
cte:p:HA5m 



HILL-SIDE 



BORDER SKETCHES: 



WITH 



LEGENDS OF THE CHEVIOTS AND THE LAMMERMUIR. 



BY 

W. H. MAXWELL, 

AXJTHOR OF "HECTOR O'HALIORAN," "WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST," " STORIKS OF 

WATERLOO," ETC. 



** Lord, who would live turmoiled in the conrt. 
And ia«y enjoy such qniet walks as these V 

BBNRY VI. 



NEW-YORK: 
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY. 

PHILADELPfflA : 
GEO. S. APPLETON, 148 CHESNUT-ST. 

1847. 



•12410- 



TO 

ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, ESQ.. 

OF 

GLENFINNART. 

MY DEAR SIR, 

Many a happy hour in a chequered life I passed on the romantic 
shores of Loch Long — and among the happiest, recall to memory those 
spent under the hospitable roof-tree of Glenfinnart. As a slight memo- 
rial that " Auld lang syne " is not forgotten, accept the inscription of 
this Volume, from 

Yours most faithfully, 

W. H. MAXWELL. 
London, March 30, 1847. 



.Vfjlil ,f,LS> 



■'f.Oili V'l'-' 

-omorrt if(;i5ilR 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 



INTRODUCTION, 



I AM one of those persons who hold the exploded opinion that Great 
Britain — Ireland, of course, excepted — is the only country in Europe 
for a gentleman to reside in permanently. With all its faults I love it 
— and never waste a thought on the eternal encroachments upon English 
liberty, as " said and sung " over half-and-half by the tailors of Tooley 
Street. I disbelieve that patriotism and a begging-box can be things 
co-existent — I have the gift of sleep, a discretion — , and, if in my tran- 
sits to Brighton or Harrowgate, I should be unhappily cooped up in a 
railway carriage with a radical, on the first emission of a Jeremiade 
against military punishment and the abuses of the State, I recline my 
head comfortably in the corner, and for the remainder of the journey 
" take mine ease." 

I have been through life a wanderer — and inns have been my abiding 
places. With West-end hostelries I am familiar as the house-cat — and 
had I the vulgar ambition of inscribing my name on glass, there is not 
a window ten years old in any house of entertainment from the Seine 
to the Neva, that would not bear my patronymic and Christian appella- 
tives. I have smoked the night away in a Persian caravanserai — been 
martyred in a Spanish Venta — lived a Week in an Irish sheebieene- 
house — and survived the insolence and extortion of a Yankee Colonel 
in Kentucky. On every hotel variety — from the palace to the pest- 
house — I could discourse eloquently ; but of all that I have honoured 
with my presence, give me the little roadside inn to be found nowhere 
on the surface of the earth, but in " Merrie England" and "the land 
of cakes." ^ 

In such an hostelrie, gentle reader, have I commenced these ram- 
bling sketches which I design, and thou shalt confess, to be a right 
pleasant and instructive portraiture of the adventures which attend, and 
the scenes that are presented to one, who, like myself, may with more 
truth than compliment be designated a sporting vagabond. My locale, 
at present, is Northumberland. "Mine inn," overhung by an enor- 
mous ash tree, looks upon a mountain-lake with a high broken ridge of 



g HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

heath and rock beyond it. Evening is setting in — all that harmoni- 
zes with repose is around me — and Byron's sweet picture of soothing 
influences seems here to have reality. There is a mastiff chained 
beneath my window, and when I approached to nib my pen, he wel- 
comed me with a flourish of the tail, and a friendly bark of " deep 
diapason." The hum of wearied bees — the tinkle of a sheep-bell — the 
distant low of cattle — all these are heard occasionally — while on the 
unruffled surface of the tarn* the coot is diving — the trout springing 
merrily at the passing fly — and, issuing from the reeds which fringe the 
banks, a wild duck sails proudly out with a brood of flappers,f which in 
a few days more will be able to take wing. 

I have closed the leaden lattice, and resumed my arm-chair. Did 
he of Auburn write his " Deserted Village " in this chamber ? The 
floor is unfortunately carpeted, not " sanded," but there stands identi- 
cally, " The varnished clock that clicked behind the door," and in the 
comer opposite, a porcelain deformity in the shape of tea-pot, with cup 
and saucers in strict conformity, of no use whatsoever, and therefore 
" wisely kept for show." 

The mantelpiece is crowded with spar and pebbles collected among 
the neighbouring hills — preserved hawks and owls ornament the walls 
— and while Flora Mac Donald looks me full in the face, I am flanked 
right and left by ' The Prodigal Son ' and ' The Young Pretender.' 

My dormitory is inside my chamber of state. All appertaining to 
it — sheets, counterpane, and curtains, snow-white as when they left the 
bleaching.field. A creeper, bearing berries of gorgeous scarlet, inter- 
mingled with a blue clematis, festoons the casement, which looks upon 
a little flower-garden and a row of bee-hives. Here, every thing but 
murder might sleep sweetly — and Saul himself find " soft repose " 
without a harp accompaniment. 

There is a gentle tap at the door — and the sweetest girl in West- 
moreland comes in to lay the supper cloth. Susan is just eighteen, 
exchanging girlish prettiness for beautiful maturity. " I wish I were 
as I have been," when at Waterloo I crossed swords with the Imperial 
Guard, and, by every thing matrimonial, I would — 

" Rein up, Colonel !" methinks I hear a snappish admirer of mine 
remark. " The event you alluded to occurred when ' George the 
Third was King.' 'Tis, if my computation be correct, some thirty-one 
years ago — and if you tilted with a French curiassier, why, you could 
not exactly have been a chicken at the time. What the devil business 
have elderly gentlemen, with bald heads and ' spectacles on nose,' to 
think, speak, or write of youth and beauty ? ' Setting your knighthood 
aside,' as Dame Quickly says to a brother of your order — fat Sir John 
— ' I write you down a — ' " 

" I pray you, Mr. Reader, for personal considerations, withhold the 
intended epithet. I confess that my cranium is beyond the range of 
Macassar — that I am extensively crow- footed — a little exuberant where 
the nether garments and the vest unite ; and I also freely admit .that the 

* The name given to mountain loughs in the North of England, 
t The sporting title for young wild ducks, before their wing-feathers are fiilly 
grown. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 9 

hirsute honours on my lips are the true vieille moustache, and equally 
removed from being re-established by dye or unguent. But I can still 
bag a couple of snipes out of three ; and when my hand is steady after 
dinner, remove the bonnet from the knave of spades, four shots out of 
seven, at twelve paces — tolerably good pistol-practice for a quintigena- 
rian you will admit. And why should I not admire in age, her whom 
in youth I worshipped ? Can I forget that, when sun-struck on the 
Peninsula, as consciousness returned, I saw the jet-black eye that 
watched my fevered slumbers brighten, as she squeezed the orange into 
my parched lips ? — Shall I not remember, when wounded and a prison- 
er, that on the night before the convoy was to march, which was to 
bear me to captivity in France — God knows how lasting ! — the keeper's 
wife whispered that she could not lock the side door, and expressed a 
hope that I would not take advantage of her husband's absence, and 
make my way to an outlying picket of our own, posted in a place she 
pointed out, and scarcely a mile beyond the cork wood ? Oh no ! 
While life exists I will own the superiority of nature's masterpiece ; 
and when the last hour comes, may the hand of innocence and beauty 
smooth the pillow of him who, in the sweet form that hangs over him, 
will fancy he has an angelic assurance that another and a better exist- 
ence is about to open. 



CHAPTER I. 

Men have different gifts, and to some, Dame Nature is more bounti- 
ful than to others. That I was originally designed by that beneficent 
lady for a traveller, is a truth indisputable ; and whether by sea or land 
it mattereth not, my qualities for locomotion are so extensive. I have 
a small but ready appetite, can drink as becometh a Christian man, 
sleep, ad libitum, " by day, or night, or any light ;" and in philosophy 1 
am an optimist. If benighted on the mountain side, obliged to " lie with 
the larks," and adopt a heathy pillow, at daybreak, I return thanks to the 
prophet for prompting the wise resolution of bivouacking in proper time, 
thereby escaping a practical lesson in the art of sinking in some neigh- 
bouring morass, or broken bones over the adjacent gully. At sea, if a 
spar be sprung, or the engine go amiss, I remain as much at ease as Dioge- 
nes at Sinope, leaving the reparation of damages to those most concerned 
in the same, and calling to memory the judicious remark of my excellent 
countryman, when informed that the vossel was sinking, " Well, blessed 
be God ! I am only a passenger." 

I have often thought had the " Wandering Jew" been a gentleman of 
my disposition, he would not have had a bad life of it after all. " From 
Captain Noah down to Captain Cook," of ancient and modern travellers, 
this gentleman is, by universal consent, admitted to be the most cele- 
brated ; and touching " his life and conversation" — as old biographers 
express it — every account agrees that this child of promise, wherever 
he turned his footsteps, kept good company and paid his way like a 



^Q HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

brick. Now, if fashionable society, and a purse sufficiently enduring 
to stand the drainage of a West-end hotel, could make a tourist comfort- 
able, the perennial migrations of this Israelite should have been felici- 
tous as a week out of town after hymenials by consent, or the return of 
a brace of fugitives from " fair Tweed-side," with " a cursed specimen 
of crabbed penmanship" in their pocket, executed at Lamberton Bar by 
a reverend gentleman the worse for liquor, declaring the levanters man 
and wife, and setting guardians and parents at defiance. 

When in a hurry — and sometimes, idler that I am, I labour under the 
delusion that I have business which calls for expedition — I prefer the 
railroad — but with ordinary circumstances to influence my outgoings, 
give me such means of locomotion as the Leith and Clyde steamers 
afford the wanderer. To him who is both snob-proof and sea-hardy, 
these vessels are luxurious. The latter I am — the former I am not. I 
fancy that the art of war, like the art of poetry, renders men irritable ; 
and unhappily for myself, I cannot take in vulgar puppyism at any 
price. In voyaging either to the city of shuttles, yclept GlasgoAV, or 
that remnant of royalty — and what an interesting one Auld Reekie is I 
— vulgarity assails you in every shape ; but, blessed be Allah ! I have 
an unprepossessing countenance and most repulsive manners ; up goes 
my battle-flag when I cross the gang-board that connects the vessel with 
the pier ; with one broad stare I have annihilated a cockney who con- 
templated familiarity ; and at table, when I choose to be disagreeable, 
the most audacious scoundrel who ever concocted a bubble rail line, 
would not venture to ask me to pass the salt. 

And yet he who voyageth by long steam will rarely find the transit 
barren — and out of the herd on board, an adept like myself well ac- 
quainted with the species, will seldom fail in picking from the '^ro/anwwt 
vulgus " a gentleman, or, what will suit his purpose quite as well, some 
personage of no pretension and much intelligence, as companionable to the 
full, and unpresuming as if he had been better born. 

In Leith and Glasgow steamers, " an ye be a man" — which in its 
nautical acceptation meaneth a person who can eat, drink, and sleep at 
discretion — and the weather be moderate, you can command, and on 
very reasonable terms, every creature comfort procurable in a well- 
appointed hotel. Even in a gale these splendid ships would be very 
tolerable, if those who are not sea-hardy would have the decency to 
ensconce themselves and their sufferings in their berths. I was once 
cured of a fit of love contracted on the pier of Howth, by a fit of sick- 
ness perpetrated before we reached Holyhead ; and assuredly, if woman 
cannot ensure deep sympathy from man, what chance of pity has a 
coarse he-fellow sprawling on a sofa, and instead of concealing his stom- 
achic infirmities, disgusting, even unto loathing, those who. would have 
otherwise escaped the visitation. Any of these offending Jonahs are 
utterly beyond the pale of pardon ; and I very believe, I would aid and 
assist in committing the man and his afflictions to the deep. 

If a person were anxious to study human character, the best book 
he can resort to will be opened to him in a steamer, I have the talent 
for detecting the peculiarities of my kind, and between " the egg and 



HILLSIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. H 

the apple" — which rendered into Scotch, means cock-a-leeky and the 
\cheese — 1 can analyze a dinner table pretty accurately. 

It is naai-vellous what varieties in human character will occasionally 
be found encircling the same board, and how easily their classification 
•can be determined, when the steward strikes upon " the tocsin of the 
soul — the dinner-bell." The gentleman quietly takes his seat, prede- 
termined to receive thankfully whatever has been provided for him. 
The ex-militaire, before he deposits his person on the camp-stool, sweeps 
the cloth over to ascertain whether fork and spoon are correctly paraded 
— the contracted eye, before which for a quarter of a century mess- 
AvaiteTs have quailed, " dreading the deep damnation of his Bah !" con- 
centrating its optic powers to detect, if it be possible, a delinquency. The 
bagman, or in more modern parlance, " the traveller," cares not a brass 
button for tabular arrangements, his care being confined to a rapid in- 
vestigation of the viands, accompanied by a mental calculation touch- 
ing the respective dishes from which the best return for two shillings 
will be obtained. Of snobs — and what a comprehensive addition to our 
language that expressive word makes! — you may naturally calculate on 
an extensive assortment, urban and rustic. In rural delinquencies, they 
being chiefly confined to dress, you feel disposed to pity and pardon the , 
offender ; but your city snob being gifted with detestable presumption, 
you find yourself irresistibly impelled to offer him sixpence a day for 
life to keep out of your sight for ever. 

I have suffered from such persons as the latter, until I attained a 
mental temperament that I became dangerous to approach. I have un- 
dergone the severest visitations, writhed under the afflicting vulgarity 
of "the folks and bodies" who infest the Clyde, and the more intolera- 
ble audacity of those cockney scoundrels who take liberties with the 
vowels, consider Margate fashionable, and labour under a delusion, that 
the fry they get at Blackwall are fish in actual reality. Heaven knows ! 
these afflictions are enough to mortify the flesh sufficiently ; and, as I 
foolishly imagined, they would be booked in the per-contra side against 
my sins, and save me from undergoing an annealing process in purga- 
tory when this mortal coil had been shuffled off*. But I had yet to learn 
that a still heavier visitation was in store ; and that, through the malig- 
nant influence of evil planets, it was ordained that I should undergo the 
pains and penalties attendant on a voyage in the Hull steamer. 

My destination was Berwick-upon-Tweed — the best point d'appui in 
Britain for an angler — and no mistake. The day of sailing of the 
steamer thither bound, was duly announced ; and I, having put my 
house in order, like a prudent tourist migrated eastward over-night, to 
be within pistol-shot of my packet in the morning. I reached my des- 
tination — and the leathern conveniency which " carried Caesar and his 
saddle-bags," pulled up at an hotel opposite the docks. 

" Where's yer honour goin' ?" inquired a red-headed rascal, who, 
had he held the gold stick in the Court of Timbuctoo, I should have 
identified at sight as a loving countryman. 

" To Berwick," was the reply. 

" Ah ! then," responded red-head, " yer honour's a trifle of tinxe 
after the ship, for she sailed at eight o'clock this momin'." 



12 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" Impossible ! The hour of sailing is advertised for to-morrow in 
'The Times.'" 

" Peaks ! and that same's likely enough," and the scoundrel 
scratched his head. " But you see they're so very, punctual, that they 
sail the day before they say they will, to prevent disappointment, I sup- 
pose." 

" Is that what you call punctuality ?" I exclaimed, in a towering 
passion. " My malison on you and punctuality both. What the devil 
are you doing with my luggage ?" 

" What am I doin' ? Jist puttin' ye up for the night, where ye'll 
sleep snug and comfortable." 

" And why should I sleep here, you vagabond ?" 

" Arrah ! how asy it is to know a gentleman from the ould country, 
by the plisant way they talk to one ! Peaks ! and I'll tell ye why ye'll 
sleep here. Arn't ye opposite the Hull packet that sails to-morrow ?" 

" And what is the Hull packet to me ?" I responded. 

" Why, jist because I know from the guns and fishin'-rods, that yer 
only goin' on the ran-tan ; and is it anything to the like of you, whether 
ye head to Hull or Berwick ?" 

And, before I could exert free agency or enter a protest, the villain 
had every article appertaining to me abstracted from the cab, and regu- 
larly shouldered up-stairs by the porters. 

" Hav'n't I, in less than no time, made yer honour snug for the 
night ?" exclaimed the " hereditary bondsman," grinning with evident 
satisfaction at his own address, and holding out his hand for the consid- 
eration which he calculated was to follow. He saw a shilling in my 
hand ; and, as if the monetary transfer had been already legally 
effected, he lauded me for my liberality. 

" It's asy knowin' the raal gentleman," said red-head. " Arrah I 
bad luck to me ! though maybe, you wouldn't believe it, but there's 
divils wid dacent coats upon them, that would put one off with a tanner, 
or a fourpenny — may Cromwell's heavy curse attend the inventors of 
the last ! Prom the moment I twigged yer honour, says I quietly to my- 
.self, " Stick to him, Peter Clancy, like wax, for he wouldn't condescend 
to reach an obligin' lad of your kind anything below a bob.' " 

Now, although part of Peter Clancy's remarks were conveyed in 
terms with which I was not familiar, I comprehended that gentility 
consisted in giving shillings, and that sixpence was a vulgar coin. 

" Mr. Clancy, will you permit me, before we part, to ask you a 
simple question ?" 

" Arrah ! to be sure I will," returned red-head. " But, ye didn't 
mane we were to part. Troth ! it's myself that would scorn to lave a 
respectable elderly gentleman like yerself, friendless and unpertected 
in the streets of London. I'll see your property safe aboard the boat, 
and take better care of ye than many a bad step-father would in the 
mornin'." 

" Mr. Clancy," I replied, " will you favour me with the full par- 
ticulars of the murder, which procured for the British capital the hon- 
our of your residence ?" 

" Upon my sowl !" returned my loving countryman, " it is not for 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 13 

committin' murder I am here. But, if yer honour must know the 
cause — why, it's jist for not committin' matrimony." 

" Explain yourself, you scoundrel !" 

" Well, when a man's spoken civilly to, he can refuse nothing, — 
and, feaks ! I'll out with the whole to ye," returned this specimen of 
the finest peasantry upon earth (authoritate, Daniel). "I was goin' 
fair and asy along the road, about a month ago, when, from a horeyeen,* 
who falls upon me like a soot-droop at the corner of the hedge, but 
Father Denis Grady. ' Peter !' says he, drawin' up. — ' Arrah ! plase 
yer rev'rence,' says I, ' but yer lookin' fresh and well, — the Lord be 
praised for the same !' — ' Peter !' said the priest, eyeing me mighty 
quare, 'I'm of opinion there's a rod in pickle for ye. Tiggum?'^ and 
he laid his finger on his nose. — ' Arrah ! what have I done, yer rev'- 
rence V says I. — ' Peter,' says he, ' where were ye last Tuesday 
night V — ' Ah ! the divil a one of rtie had anything to say to the scrim- 
mage that evening, good or bad,' says I. — ' Who's talkin' about scrim- 
mages ?' says the priest. ' Peter, ye'r a patent rascal, and a most 
accomplished malefactor, I'm afraid. What brought ye across the bog 
wid Honor Donovan?' — 'To convoy her from the dance, plase yer 
rev'rence, as ye know she's a neighbour's child.' — 'Peter,' says he, 
' ye'U be hanged, as sure as the divil's in Galway.' — ' Oh ! may the 
Lord forbid!' says I. — 'Troth! ye may make yer mind asy on it,' 
says he : ' ye'r certain to spoil a market. But, to cut a long story 
short, af ye don't make Biddy Donovan an honest woman betune this 
and Garlick Sunday, and that's the Sunday after nixt — be this book,' 
and he kissed the handle of his whip, ' I'll give ye such a blast from 
the altar, that after it yer own dog wouldn't keep ye company.' — ' Oh ! 
murder! murder!' says I. 'Doesn't yer rev'rence know well that 
Judy was off for a week with a recruitin'-party ?' — 'Why, ye hard- 
hearted Samaritan,' says he, ' would you venture to give back an 
answer to your clargy ? Be off"! an' if ye don't behave dacent to the 
little girl, I'll make a world's wonder of ye !' — Wasn't I in a beautiful 
quandary ? Divil a choice left but to marry a wife without a rag of 
character, or be cursed on Garlick Sunday. ' What's to be done,' 
says I to myself. ' Divil a thing but cut your stick, Peter Clancy,' 
says I, answerin' my own question. Feaks ! accordingly, I brushes 
next morning at daylight ; and, after a week on the treadmill at Liver- 
pool for an assault, I reached London in good health, and without a 
scullogne in my pocket. Well, I goes for news to the Seven Dials, 
and, sure enough, Bridget Lanigan had a letter from her brother the 
day before. It was all over wid me. Father Denis, when he heard I 
had bolted, put the candles out on me, and my sister into convulsions 
— and here I am, yer honour, durin' life — for the divil a toe I dar turn 
to the ould country, ye know." 

" It is quite certain," I replied, " that London has got a valuable 
and a permanent addition to her population. Be off!" and flinging 
another shilling to the gay deceiver who had drawn down upon himself 
the ire of mother church, he vanished like a sharp-shooter, and I pro- 
ceeded to my apartments for the night. 

* A horse -path across a bog. t Do you understand me ? 



J4 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

By times next morning I was a-foot ; and on descending the stairs 
I found Mr. Clancy in attendance. We proceeded to London Bridge 
— the false one, in addition to my personal property, having a bundle 
secured in a pocket-handkerchief on the truck, and an oak sapling under 
his arm. My luggage was committed to the hold ; my guns and fish- 
ing-rods carried to the cabin ; the porter fully satisfied ; and Mr. 
Clancy accommodated with half-a-crown — in return for which the ex- 
communicated rascal had the impudence to favour me with his 
blessing. 

I hate greetings in the market-place ; and cockney adieux I care- 
fully eschew. The bell sounded its three alarums ; and, to avoid the 
bustle attendant on departure, I ensconced myself below. Through 
the cabin-skylight, I heard " the monarch of her peopled deck," a per- 
sonage whose countenance bore " tokens true " of heavy wet and 
heavy weather, order the mooring-vopes to be hauled aboard. A pre- 
paratory grunt was given from the engine-room ; the wheels revolved 
slowly. " Remember me affectionately to my Aunt Deborah," from 
the gangway, was returned by " Give my love to Cousin Francis" 
from the shore. " Turn a-heed !" screamed the attendant imp, who, 
like the repeating-frigate of a fleet, gave language to the waved hand 
of the commander on the paddle-box — and off we went. 

A cursory glance at the company on deck had been unfavourable ; 
and, consequently, during the voyage, I had secretly determined to 
preserve an isolated dignity ; and, when breakfast was announced, and, 
one after another, my fellow-passengers descended the companion- 
ladder, a personal inspection confirmed my previous resolution. 

The oldest " refugium peccatorum " I believe, on record, was the 
Cave of Abdullum, where all in danger and in debt resorted, as fashion- 
able levanters repair in the present day to Boulogne. The Hull steamer 
on this morning, I fancy, would have set the table d'hote of the Hotel 
du Nord at defiance ; and even the cavern itself could put forward no 
pretence to rival " The Rapid." A bubble railroad had been kicked 
out of committee the preceding day — and all concerned in the same — 
to wit, the flats and sharps — the victimized and the victimizers — were 
returning to the North, — all wiser men, and the larger proportion much 
sadder ones than when they visited the great metropolis. 

Never did a more dolorous company congregate round a breakfast- 
table. The scrip-holders were demolished ; the director-general had 
already been favoured with six-and-forty notices of action ; half-a-dozen 
proprietors of theodolites and iron chains looked upon them with des- 
pairing eyes, and, like Othello, recollected that in surveying as in war, 
it is not pleasant for a gentleman to ascertain that " his occupation's 
gone." One thing struck me as remarkable, — however infelicitous 
their Stag Alley operations had proved, the digestive powers of the 
company were unimpaired by these monetary misfortunes, for such a 
collection of human cormorants I never before consorted with; and I 
came to the conclusion that, as necessity sharpens invention, scrip- 
holding improves the appetite. 

Even with a polished gambler I never could encourage intimacy ; 
and lower black-legs are not endurable at all. I hurried over break- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 15 

fast — mounted the cabin ladder, — and found on deck two persons, with 
whom I subsequently formed an acquaintance. Never were the circum- 
stances which excited interest for strangers more dissimilar. 

One was a ruined dupe ; the other a sweet and artless girl of nine- 
teen. Every thing about the fair one was calculated to enlist my sym- 
pathy. She was young, pretty, innocent, alone, and unprotected — in a 
foreign land, and unable to speak one syllable of its language. 

The delight she evinced when she found I could converse with her 
in French, was probably enhanced by finding that in her new protector, 
she had a man whose years warranted her to look fearlessly to him as 
a father. Without the least hesitation, she accepted my tender of atten- 
tion ; and when she found that my profession had been that of arms — 
that I held a similar rank to her late father. Colonel St. Aubyn — that 
we had opposed each other in the same fields — and expended the best 
years of mutual life in honourable confliction on the Peninsula, — I verily 
believe that, without a particle of distrust, she would have accompanied 
me to Kamschatka, had our destinations thither pointed. 

I spread a military cloak on one of the side-benches, and we sat 
down to enjoy a pleasant sea-breeze, and observe the hundred passing 
vessels which each succeeding tide hurries from all the corners of the 
earth, to bring fresh additions to the enormous wealth of the mighty cap- 
ital of Britain. Before an hour passed, Ninette — as my sweet ■protegee 
was named — with all the confidence of youth, spoke to me unreservedly 
as if we had been the acquaintances of years ; while, encouraged by 
the undisguised intimacy her manner seemed to court, I expressed sur- 
prise that one so young, so pretty, and so helpless, had ventured into a 
stranger land, without some female friend to bear her company, or a 
male protector, like myself. 

She smiled. 

" I would freely, my dear friend, tell you the causes of this apparent 
impropriety ; but you would laugh at me — " and she looked archly in 
my face. 

" And why should I, pretty one ! laugh at — " 

She playfully interrupted the sentence, and added, 

" What all but those concerned think ridiculous — a love story !" 

" And fancy you, my sweet friend," I responded warmly, " that be- 
cause Dan Cupid and I parted company before you saw the light, that 
my heart is so gnarled by time, and my feelings so deadened, that I 
cannot sympathize with youthful affections ?" 

" Ah, then, mon colonel, I will tax your patience," she replied, laugh- 
ing. " No matter ; the safest confidant the soldier's orphan could re- 
pose in, is in him who possibly crossed sabres with her father on the 
battle-field. In the vieile moustache" and she touched my grizzled lip, 
" St. Aubyn's child has nought to dread." 

" And were it coal-black, as it once was," I passionately rejoined, 
" she might equally place reliance in its faith. He who wears the sol- 
dier's livery, and could imagine aught against thee, Ninette, but what 
was generous and kind, may heart fail him in his hour of trial, and 
every thing brave and noble recoil from him as a recreant." 

She took my hand — pressed it in hers — and, while tears and smiles 



jg HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

contended for the mastery, Ninette St. Aubyn communicated the simple 
story of" a young life. 

Could I but narrate the tale in her own naive and artless language, 
while by turns, a smile brightened the countenance radiant with expres- 
sion, or a tear stole down her cheek, as some unhappy passage in her 
varying fortunes was recalled to memory — the reader would admit that 
the coldest listener could not refuse his sympathy to so fair and so inte- 
resting a raconteuse. 



CHAPTER II. 

NINETTE ST. AUBYN. 



The amount of human suffering which was produced by the French 
Revolution, it would be impossible even to conjecture — but great as 
the evil and misery that resulted might have been, this terrible convul- 
sion produced in time an improved order of new things and new men. 
Rotten institutions were demolished ; and the wretched noblesse, with 
their favourites and dependents, who had sprang into mischievous ele- 
vation by court intrigue, gave way to humbler-born and better citizens. 
The public departments were purified — a crowd of worthless atiaclies, 
who had evaded the guillotine, were driven into exile — a profligate 
priesthood totally suppressed — and profiting by the removal of these 
nuisances, whicn so long had impoverished and disgraced a land afflicted 
by corrupt government, national prosperity revived — while, pari passu, 
arts and sciences advanced. The reign of terror, as the thunder-storm 
removes the noxious influences of an unhealthy atmosphere, by a fear- 
ful but efflcient action, renovated a demoralized people ; and, as a long- 
neglected malady can only be remedied by desperate means, France 
could not have attained the mighty position she had lost, and which she 
afterwards recovered, excepting by sweeping, root and branch, away, a 
bad monarchy, a worse aristocracy, and a still more abominable priest- 
hood. 

Many were the changes which the existing order of things were 
fated to sustain at this eventful period — but the most extraordinary of 
the whole, was the total revolution which, in all matters connected with 
it, the art of war underwent. Military systems, based on erroneous 
principles, but to which continental commanders adhered with a devo- 
tion that can now be regarded only as ridiculous, were gradually ab- 
sorbed in the scientific simplicity which rendered the armies o? the 
Republic invincible. The pernicious principle which opened only to 
the high-born a chance of military preferment, was exploded. To the 
reach of the humblest in the social scale, fame, and honour, and dis- 
tinction were extended — and, consequently, those magnificent soldiers, 
who made France the mistress of the continent, and annihilated the 
stupid pedantry of the imbecile old men to whom armies had been 
hitherto intrusted, won and maintained that glorious celebrity, which, 
while history lasts, will attach itself to the Generals of Napoleon. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 17 

When the reign of terror was devastating France, and the high-born 
and the humblest were indiscriminately sacrificed to the fury of the 
times, in a remote valley izi the lower range of the Pyrenees, two fami- 
lies were residing. One, was that of a small proprietor called St. 
Aubyn — the other, belonged to a person who had held a situation under 
the late government, named Harrispe. St. Aubyn was by descent a 
gentleman, and in rank superior to his neighbour ; but Harrispe, who 
had risen from obscurity, was the wealthier. Both were fathers, and 
each the parent of an only child. 

When the revolution broke out, Pierre St. Aubyn was nineteen — a 
bold and handsome mountaineer ; while Lucille Harrispe, two years 
younger, was unquestionably the finest girl in the department. Cir- 
cumstances appeared to have designed them lor each other — they loved, 
or thought they loved — and their parents sanctioned a union, which was 
fixed for the approaching birthday of the bride elect. 

While the centre of the kingdom was fearfully convulsed, and blood 
flowed in torrents in the capital, the remote situation of the valley of 
San Roque, as yet had screened it from the fury of the times. The 
distant muttering of the thunder-cloud was heard — and the wild reports 
which reached the mountains, of scenes of atrocity transacting else- 
where, were received distrustfully by the Basque peasants, as being 
too hori'ible for belief — while from their isolated locality, the inhabitants 
of San Roque expected they would escape the notice, and thus evade 
the reckless vengeance with which the republicans visited alike the 
guilty and the innocent. That hope was vain ; for no spot in France 
was so remote, but human blood-hounds scented out the victim. Agents 
arrived from Paris ; they brought plenary power from the Directory to 
slaughter all suspected as they pleased — and, from having held an ap- 
pointment under the ancient regime, in the proscribed list the name of 
Harrispe stood prominently. Nothing but instant flight could have 
saved him from destruction — and his friend, St. Aubyn, reckless of 
personal considerations, enabled him to leave the kingdom with his wife 
and daughter, and also assisted him in carrying off" the larger portion 
of his property. Alas ! the secret speedily transpired that the escape 
of one so obnoxious as Harrispe had been affected by the agency of St. 
Aubyn — and his own death was not considered a sufficient atonement 
for the crime of saving a devoted man. The family of the offender 
were included in the fatal list. St. Aubyn and his innocent wife were 
guillotined — and Pierre alone, from his intimate acquaintance with the 
passes of the mountains, escaped the knife, and crossed the Spanish 
frontier. 

Until they were secure from the reach of their enemies, the younger 
St. Aubyn had accompanied the fugitives, and never left them while 
a chance of their being overtaken existed. Deep were the expressions 
of eternal gratitude from the parents ; but more ardent the protestations 
of eternal love reiterated by the beautiful Lucille, as she hung upon 
the bosom of young Pierre, and swore eternal fidelity. Their union 
was to take place in England — whither St. Aubyn was to follow the 
refugees as soon as circumstances should permit. 

Months passed. No letter from the fugitives reached their deliv- 

2 



18 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

erer save one, and that told him that the family of Harrispe were safe 
in the British capital. Pierre was a homeless man — one without kin- 
dred or country — his parents murdered — his property confiscated — his 
life proscribed — and in a strange land, without money or a friend, he 
felt bitterly this reverse of fortune. But hope pointed in his darkest 
hour to that land of freedom, where love and Lucille would yet repay 
all that he had suffered and sustained ; until at last, through the gener- 
ous sympathy of an English Captain, he obtained a passage, and found 
himself in the streets of London in safety, and without a sixpence. 

By an inquiry at the Alien Office, he found out the residence of the 
emigrants, and thither he hurried. In Harrispe, he would find a father 
in place of him whom he had lost — in Lucille, the sublimated happiness 
which the smiles of beauty confer on man, after he has endured the 
double test of absence and adversity. Alas ! poor youth ! little did he 
anticipate the intelligence and the reception that awaited him. Lucille 
was false and wedded to another ; and Harrispe's cold manner proved, 
that, even life preserved, will not command a scoundrel's gratitude. 

How Pierre St. Aubyn regained the continent, it would be unneces- 
sary to detail ; but, with a deadly hatred to every thing connected with 
the cause of royalty, he hastened to the Low Countries, and joined the 
ranks of the Republicans. One without a feeling or a tie to bind him 
to existence, holds life at lowly estimate. Where danger was, there St. 
Aubyn was found to court it — death claimed others and spared him — 
and within a twelvemonth, the young soldier was a captain. 

The opening of his career was the brightest passage in his military 
history. Brave, intelligent, and enthusiastic, with every ability to seize 
an opportunity should it have presented itself, fortune refused her 
favours afterwards, and many outstripped him in the race of fame, to 
whom, in every thing which constitutes a soldier, he felt himself 
immeasurably superior. By tedious steps, at last he reached the rank 
of colonel ; and then, piqued at the promotion of another, which he con- 
sidered should have been given in right of long service to himself, he 
petitioned the Emperor to be placed en retraite, and received as civil a 
conge as Blucher did from Frederick, viz., a royal consent to go to the 
devil as he pleased. 

Not many weeks elapsed before the retired Colonel regretted the 
step he had taken, but it was now irremediable. At fifty, Paris has 
not the charms it possessed when men were twenty-five ; and wearying 
of the metropolis, he set out for the south of France, to revisit the valley 
where he was born. Finding a part of his paternal property which 
had been confiscated at the Revolution, for sale, he purchased a farm — • 
and turning his sword into a ploughshare, determined to end his days, 
where " life's fitful fever " had commenced. 

St. Aubyn married, humbly but happily — but unfortunately, his 
wife died within a few years, leaving him the orphan girl who sat beside 
me on the steamer's deck. 

" And now. Colonel, promise me that you will not laugh, for my 
narrative will soon become a love tale." 

I smiled, and assured her that my gravity should equal my atten- 
tion. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 19 

" It is about a twelvemonth ago," continued Ninette, " since my 
father's health gave evidence of decline ; and a hardy constitution, 
which had borne thirty years' campaigning in different climates, and 
sustained an Eastern sun and Russian winter, began to break. I re- 
marked the rapid change, and trembled when I recollected, that when 
he should be called away, I had not a near relative in the world. 
While my dear father lived, his pension was sufficient for our very 
moderate demands. That would of course terminate with his life ; 
and his property was very trifling, save the little farm he had purchased 
and improved. One evening I observed a decided alteration in the in- 
valid, my mind foreboded the worst, and my dear father found me in 
tears. He strove to cheer me. ' Ninette,' he said, ' fear not that 
Heaven will leave innocence without friends — and when thou shalt, in 
the ordinary course of human existence, be called on to close thy father's 
eyes, the hand that shielded this head in thirty battles, can stay the 
orphan when she needs support ; and rest assured that when I am 
gone, God will find for thee, girl, another protector. Ah !' he ex- 
claimed, ' what means this V and he pointed to four or five mountain 
shepherds, who bore a heavy burden down an Alpine path that opened 
on our valley. 

" When they approached nearer to the cottage, it was ascertained 
that they were carrying a dead or disabled man — and my father hast- 
ened across the vineyard to meet them, and offer any assistance in his 
power, if the sufferer were not already beyond the reach of human aid. 

" He proved to be a stranger — an English gentleman who had been 
travelling in the upper range of the Pyrenees, sketching mountain scene- 
ry, and collecting Alpine plants. In returning to the lower country, 
he had unfortunately separated from the guides who had attended him 
during his wanderings — and taking an unsafe path, the rock crumbled 
away, and the mule and his rider were precipitated down the cliff. 
The animal was killed by the fall — the traveller miraculously escaped 
with numerous and severe bruises. 

" To remove the stranger to the nearest town, in the dangerous con- 
dition he then was in, was declared unsafe — and my father's urgent 
request that he. should await recovery in the cottage, was gratefully 
acknowledged, and the offer accepted. A surgeon was procured from 
the next market-town, — and it being ascertained that no bones were 
broken, the leech assured his patient that his recovery would be certain, 
although probably it might be tedious. 

" Time proved that this opinion was correct ; for two months elapsed 
before Edward Trevellian had regained sufficient strength to resume his 
journey. 

" From the hour when the stranger was carried to my father's cot- 
tage, his misfortune created an interest in my breast, and that sympa- 
thetic feeling soon ripened into ardent love. He was young, handsome, 
and engaging, with a highly cultivated mind and polished manners. 
Compared with the rude peasantry, and the illiterate proprietors I had 
been accustomed to associate with from infancy, whenever I returned 
home from the convent where I had been educated, the youthful En- 
glishman appeared a being of a different order. ' To see him was to 



20 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

love him,' — and his extensive knowledge of the world left him at no 
loss to detect the secret of my heart. 

" Were any thing required to elevate Trevellian in my estimation, 
it was the studied delicacy he preserved towards me throughout the 
close intimacy which his indisposition had given rise to. When I en- 
tered his apartment in the morning, he welcomed me with smiles ; when 
I bade him a ' good night,' he blessed me as my father did. The 
slightest attention elicited ardent expressions of his gratitude — while 
his bearing was marked by a respectful solicitude, which led me to 
believe that his feelings towards me were but a brother's. He never 
by a glance or an expression called a blush to my cheek ; and long be- ' 
fore he left us, I would have confided to him every secret thought, save 
one — and that he had guessed already. 

" For weeks he had named different periods for his departure ; but 
they were always postponed — and yet thj plea of ill health remained 
no longer, for he had resumed his mountain rambles, and made me 
his constant companion. Oiice or twice in the week, he rode to the 
next town to seek for letters he expected ; and on these occasions, a 
carrier invariably brouglit to the cottage all the pretty trifles which 
please our sex, and every thing that an invalid, like the old colonel, 
could take a fancy to. 

" One evening he returned from Tarbes earlier than usual — and 
instead of stopping, as was his custom, to tell my father the passing 
news, he retired to his chamber and continued writing for several 
hours. When I tapped at his door to tell him that supper was ready, 
I saw at a glance that he was thoughtful and disturbed ; he took my 
hand in his, pressed it more ardently than usual, told me that he 
wished to speak with me for half an hour — and, as the moon was at the 
full, prosposed a favourite walk, which, in day-light we often resorted 
to. I afterwards thought I had acted wrong in leaving the cottage when 
my father had retired to his chamber — but in Trevellian I had un- 
bounded confidence ; and, as the result proved, I found my reliance in 
his honour was not misplaced. 

" ' Ninette,' he said, as he seated me beside him on a fallen tree, 
* the time of leaving thee — so often named, and as oft adjourned, has 
come at last — and letters I received to-day summon me to England.' 

" He paused — that single sentence, however, was sufficient — my 
dream of love was ended. 

" ' And when do you leave us V I managed with difficulty to in- 
quire. 

" * To-morrow, dear — dear Ninette.' 

" I could no longer command feelings which seemed to smother me 
while attempting to suppress them, but burst into an agony of sorrow, 
and wept upon a bosom which, for the first time he pressed me to. 
Close as our intimacy had been, I never had addressed him without 
that usual addition with which gentlemen are formally designated ; but 
now I passionately exclaimed, 

" ' DearEdward ! do not depart so hastily. Stay — were it only for 
a week.' 

" • Would that I could stay with thee, sweet one !' he replied, ' not 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 21 

for a stated period, but for ever. Alas ! my fate is influenced by the 
will of others, and, as your Emperor expressed it, ' my destinies must 
be fulfilled.' Ninettte, I read long since thy secret ; I felt assured 
thou didst love me — -I burned with an impulse almost beyond control 
to clasp thee to ray heart, and tell thee that thy love was fondly, 
ardently returned ; but a stern principle of honour forbade me to dis- 
close the secret that often was bursting from my lips ; and till the 
parting hour came, I determined to hide my feelings from thee. Wilt 
thou, dear Ninette, for my sake — for thine own — grant me three 
requests ?' 

" I could only, amid sobs, and tears, and kisses, in broken accents, 
give him the assurance he required. 

II < Were I master of my own acts,' he continued, ' ere that bright 
moon rose to-morrow evening, by every sacred tie I would make thee 
mine, Ninette. But I am singularly, painfully circumstanced ; and 1 
dare not promise what accident may prevent. Dare I prove your love ; 
and will you remain unwedded for a year V 

" ' Oh ! yes — yes ! a life, if thou but require it, Edward.' 

" ' Take this sealed paper, Ninette ; and give me thy assurance 
that, while thy father lives the seal shall not be broken ; or, that should 
you wed another, the morning you repair to the altar with him who 
shall supplant me in thy love, this little billet shall be committed un- 
opened to the flames.' 

" I took the packet from his hand, and murmured an assent. 

" ' And now, last, and simplest request of all, — should letters come 
from an unknown hand, make no inquiry ; use them as they are de- 
signed to be employed ; and, under all circumstances, whether friend, 
adviser, protector, husband — rest thy faith in me, Ninette, strong as in 
holy writ ; and place implicit reliance in Edward Trevellian.' 

4: 4: % % 4: 

" Morning came ; and he who was no longer a stranger, departed. 
With great regret my father bade farewell to one who had first excited 
his interest, and latterly had commanded his respect. Ask not my 
feelings : my heart felt broken ! 

" Scarcely a month had passed since the English visitor left our 
cottage, until a letter from a banker in Paris informed my father, that 
five thousand francs had been placed to his credit by a foreigner, who 
declined to give his name ; and by the same post a iillet reached me 
in the well-remembered hand-writing of him I loved. It contained a 
diamond-ring." 

She removed her glove — and on the bridal-finger showed me a 
valuable brilliant ; and then added, with enthusiastic ardour, as she 
placed a letter in my hand : 

" That paper which encased the diamond was dearer far to me than 
all Golconda !" 

I read it ; and it ran thus : — 

" ' Preserve, Ninette, this memorial of the absent one. The gem is 
not purer than his love ; and the golden circle is the symbol of its 
endurance. 

"'Edward.'" 



22 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

Slie kissed the hilkt, replaced it in her bosom, and then continued : 

" My narrative now, Colonel, has nought but tragic interest. One 
morning, my father was later than was his custom in coming to the 
breakfast-table ; and, at last, when half an hour beyond his regulated 
time had passed, 1 repaired to his chamber. Alas ! the last friend, 
save one, I had on earth had slipped quietly from existence, and there 
lay the soldier, ' taking his rest,' — his features in such beautiful repose, 
as if he had smiled when the order of the Great Being came which 
commanded him to change time for eternity ! Death, no doubt, had 
visited him gently ; but, oh God ! had but his brave spirit passed, and I 
beside his bed, — had my name been only murmured as he departed — I 
could have stood the trial better." 

The recollection of him she lost brought more painful associations 
with it than orphanage, and bursting into tears, Ninette's grief was far 
too poignant to be controlled. I called for water. Excepting a one- 
eyed navigator at the wheel, and save ourselves, none were on the deck, 
and although, in parade voice, I lustily enunciated 'Steward !' like the 
gentleman of old, who ' loudly did call, but none did answer him,' my 
summons was unheeded. What was to be done ? I dared not desert 
my pretty charge. But my difficulty was removed, when a protruded 
hand, armed with a glass of water, was pushed across my shoulder. 
Who was the ministering angel ? I looked up. 

Blessed Mary ! could it be ? There stood the " accomplished 
malefactor," who had deserted his Irish Ariadne, and been declared 
an ejifant perdu by Father Grady ! I placed my hand across my eyes 
— not a doubt touching his identity existed — and that arch-deceiver, 
Peter Clancy, stood before me ! 



CHAPTER III. 



I NEVER saw a ghost, although I have laid upon a battle-field for a 
night, in close communion with some hundred defunct gentlemen, who, 
from tlie turbulence of their former lives, might have been expected to 
be a little restless after this mortal coil had been shuffled ofT. I know 
not, therefore, what effect the re-appearance of the dead produces ; but 
I can bear evidence touching the astonishment that Mr. Clancy occa- 
sioned, although still in the flesh, when he handed me a glass of water. 

" Why, you excommunicated scoundrel — " 

•' Arrah ! don't be talking about excommunication, but attend to the 
lady," said Master Peter. 

" Where the devil have you come from ?" 

" Come from ?" he repeated, " I came from before the funnel," 
returned the scoundrel with surpassing indifference ; " they'll not let us 
take a draw of the pipe nearer to the quarter-deck on account of the 
quality, who can't stand the smell of a dudheeine." 

" Where are you going to ? And what thieves' errand are you 
bound upon ?" 

" As to the exact place I'm going, I can't just say for certainty 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 23 

until I have a word or two with yer honour ; and I hope a gentleman's 
service is no disgrace," returned Mr. Clancy. 

" A gentleman's service !" I exclaimed. 

" Your honour's surprised, I see, to think I would condiscind to it," 
returned red-head ; " and feaks ! I was in doubts about it myself, and 
had half made up my mind to accept the loan of a shilling yesterday 
eveniuf, from a sheep-skin fiddler* I had a drink with on Tower-hill. 
But when I remembered the dog's life I had of it in the Welsh Fusi- 
leers, I got scared from taking to sojering again — " 

" Were you drummed out, or did they discharge you ?" 

" Neither," replied red-head with a grin, " for feaks ! I discharged 
myself." 

" Then, you scoundrel, you deserted ?" 

" Why I didn't exactly desert, returned Mr. Clancy ; " but one 
evening I lost the regiment on the march, and never could hear what 
"became of it afterwards. Troth ! to tell God's truth, 1 made but few 
inquiries ; for the sameness of treatment I got from Monday morning 
till Saturday night, had tired me out. Devil a day rose upon me, but 
I was blown up by the colonel ; cursed by the adjutant ; and caned by 
the sergeant-major." 

" Any scratches on the back ? The drummer's sign-manual between 
the shoulders ? Eh ?" 

" None, blessed be God !" exclaimed Mr, Clancy, " though I was 
tolerably near it for joining a dozen of my friends in pulling down a 
public-house one evening. But the young lady's better. Jist let me 
throw a sketch of brandy into the tumbler, merely to take the colour of 
death off the water, and in less than no time the crater will be merry 
as a cricket." 
■ " Be off, you scoundrel — " 

" Of coorse, anything my master bids me do must be done," ob- 
seerved the deceiver of Judy Donovan. 

"Your master, fellow ?" 

"Ay; and that's yerself," continued red-head with all the coolness 
imaginable. " Call for me when your honour wants anything ; and re- 
member, ye'r not dependin' upon strangers now, but have a valet-de- 
cham of your own, and one too that any nobleman might be proud of." 

I looked after Mr. Clancy with astonishment. I had known a man 
who went drunk to bed a civilian, rather surprised on waking the next 
morning, to find himself a soldier ; but to be made a master with open 
day-light and in due sobriety, was an accident I never heard of hap- 
pening to a private gentleman before. 

" Are you better, dear Ninette ?" I inquired of my fair com- 
panion. 

" Oh, yes ! quite well now. Alas ! when I recall to mind that sad 
and sudden calamity, which left me almost friendless upon the world, 
my heart sinks, and tears will come although I strive to conquer 
woman's weakness. But I will not detain you, Colonel — but close my 
melancholy narrative. 

* A drummer. 



24 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

"I followed my father to his last resting-place, wept over the 
hallowed earth that covered him, and placed a garland of laurels above 
the soldier's grave. For a month, I lived in deep retirement — and my 
sorrow was respected, for none intruded on me. The mre and doctor 
were my only visitors ; and through their consolation and advice, I was 
enabled gradually to regain a sufficient calmness of mind, to consider 
what was the most prudent course for me to adopt ; and also the 
manner in which I should best dispose of the little farm and effects my 
dear father had left behind him. Need I say. Colonel, my thoughts 
were sadly wandering. / was in the lonely valley of the Pyrenees. 
Where was my heart 1 — In England. 

" One evening I was sitting at my needlework, when Claudine, my 
only attendant and companion, told me that two strangers had inquired 
if I were at home, and desired permission to wait upon me. They were 
ushered in ; and in the elder I recognized the proprietor from whom my 
late father had purchased the farm and cottage ; but the other person 
was totally unknown to me. Monsieur Fouchard I only knew by ap- 
pearance — for my father had declined all intimacy with him, from some 
deceit he had practised towards himself, and indeed, from his general 
bad character. After a formal condolence for the loss I had sustained, 
and a k\v common-place remarks, M. Fouchard stopped suddenly, as il 
at a loss to proceed with the grave business which, no doubt, had brought 
him to the cottage. I wished to abridge an interview that was both 
unsought for and disagreeable — and inquired to what cause M. Fou- 
chard 's visit was to be ascribed ? 

" ' Had Mademoiselle made any decision yet, as to whether she 
should continue in the cottage V was the reply. 

" I stared at the man — for the question appeared impertinent. 

" ' Really, M. Fouchard, your inquiry strikes me as being one that 
a stranger is not entitled to make. Whether I shall retain or dispose 
of this property can be of no consequence to you.' 

" ' Excuse me, Madame. The owner of a property naturally in- 
quires, when he has lost one tenant, who may be the person that is 
likely to become successor.' 

" * The owner of a property !' I repeated, ' I am the owner of this 
cottage ; and who will tenant it, I shall decide upon when necessary.* 

" ' Excuse me,' returned M. Fouchard, ' Mademoiselle is under a 
mistake ; my friend here will have the pleasure to explain it.' 

" And rising from his chair, he quitted the chamber, and left me 
alone with a very unprepossessing man, whom I discovered afterwards 
to be his lawyer. 

" I shall hasten over the details of this interview. It appeared that 
my unsuspecting parent had been completely overreached by M. Fou- 
chard ; and that while he had, as he believed, made himself master of 
this little property, he was by some legal roguery merely a tenant for 
life ; and, consequently, that I was now at the mercy of a knave. The 
lawyer made use of much circumlocution before he reached the end, 
for truth to say, it was rather a delicate task which he had undertaken ; 
as in effecting it, he was obliged to prove that his patron was a scoun- 
drel. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 25 

" ' Well, Sir,' I said, when he had wound up his tedious statement, 
' I comprehend my position perfectly ; and the same protecting power 
by whom I was enabled to sustain a father's loss, will support me under 
a reverse of fortune. I shall seek another home, and quit this cottage 
incontinently.' 

" ' That home. Mademoiselle, is already at your command — ' and 
the lawyer made a pause. 

" ' What mean you. Sir V I inquired. 

" ' That M. Fouchard has determined to marry, and tenders his 
heart and fortunes to Mademoiselle St. Aubyn,' returned the advo- 
cate. 

" ' His heart !' I exclaimed indignantly ; ' he has no heart — he, 
who would cheat the man who confided in liim, and rob the orphan of 
her small inheritance ! Retire, Sir ; and say to your employer, that 
the daughter of St. Aubyn would prefer, menial service to an alliance 
with a scoundrel.' 

" I rose and left the room, and the lawyer rejoined his' patron, and 
departed. 

" I suppose that he, whom I learned afterwards was the infamous 
agent through whom my poor father had been cheated, delivered my 
contemptuous rejection of M. Fouchard's hand in the language it had 
been conveyed, for an immediate system of annoyance commenced, and 
formal steps were taken to eject me from my humble home. One 
evening, after a notary had served me with some vexatious process, I 
was sitting in deep melancholy, and wondering when I was turned out 
upon the world, where I should find a home. Claudine, faithful to the 
last, endeavoured to console me. 

" ' Ah ! Mademoiselle, why desppnd thus ? I had a dream last 
night, and fancied that Monsieur Trevellian had come back, and the 
notary was sent for to draw the marriage contract. I see you look 
daily at the letter he left you, and yet you will not venture to break the 
seal. Courage ! who knows what good news that little billet may 
bring yet.' 

" I took the letter from my bosom. I looked at the superscription 
as I had a thousand times before. I read the sentence anew — ' To be 
opened in the hour of need !' — ' And,' exclaimed Claudine, ' is not that 
hour come ? An orphan girl beset by rogues and lawyers. Come, 
Mademoiselle ! are you a soldier's daughter, and afraid ? Ah me I 
had the poor Colonel had a little prudence, instead of the courage he 
could have spared, we should not be persecuted by that bad man, 
Fouchard, and his villanous employes.^ 

" I still held the letter in my hand. Dare I break wax which pos- 
sibly contained the fatal information that an insuperable barrier between 
Edward and myself existed, and that Trevellian was lost to me ? 
Claudine snatched the letter from my hand, and in the attempt I made 
to retain it, the seal was broken ! 

" With a desperate effort I unclosed the well-remembered hand- 
writing of the master of my heart ; and thus ran the contents of the 
billet : 



25 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

« ' Ninette, 

" ' Repair instantly to England. Fearlessly entrust your destinies 
to me ; although a husband may not be waiting to receive the exile, 
she will find a brother in Edward Trevellian.' 

" There were directions added as to the means by which I should 
apprize him that I was leaving France ; and a house in London was 
referred to, which, on my arrival, I was instantly to communicate 
with. 

" Claudine accompanied me to Paris. There I received the money 
placed for me in the banker's ; then parting with my humble but faith- 
ful companion, she returned to the south of France, and I proceeded to 
the capital of Britain. 

" I found a sealed packet waiting for me at the appointed place. 
It simply directed me to repair to Hull ; and assured me that there I 
should find one in waiting who would take charge of the wanderer. 
Who, save one, can that protector be ? My heart whispers that it is 
Edward. But, ah ! mon cher Colonel, in what character will he present 
himself? The husband, or the brother ? Alas ! I dread that in Tre- 
Vellian I shall only find the latter." 

I endeavoured to remove her fears, and succeeded in restoring her 
confidence. Dinner was announced, and we obeyed the summons. 

I confess that the peculiar position in which this young and unfriended 
foreigner was placed, was to me a source of much inquietude. Who 
was this man who wrapped himself in mystery, and on whom her hap- 
piness — her hopes — ay ! her very honour were dependent ? Some 
circumstances induced me to think favourably of him, while others led 
me to distrust his designs. " I will protect the orphan !" I mentally 
determined. " Others may offer brotherly attention, Ninette ; but I 
shall be a father to thee, if it be required !" 

The evening was remarkably fine, and we returned immediately 
after dinner upon deck, whither I had directed the steward to bring 
wine and fruit. While we had been in the cabin, the steamer had 
rounded a low point of land, and a coast, whose navigation was par- 
ticularly dangerous — were one to judge from the numerous lighthouses 
and beacons, which were erected for the direction of the mariner — was 
now fully displayed. A man whom I had noticed in the morning, and 
who appeared to keep apart from the rest of the passengers, had hurried 
from the dinner-table like Ninette and me, and observing that we 
regarded the coast we passed with much attention, he came forward, 
touched his hat respectfully, and explained the uses of the buildings, 
and the positions of the shoals and channels. 

" You seem to know this coast most intimately ?" 

" Ay," said the mariner, " and that too at midnight as well as in 
noon-day. Mark you, Sir, yon sandy cove ? See, it trends inland on 
the north of the white beacon." 

" Yes," I replied, " I can trace it distinctly." 

" There, five years ago, was I found lifeless to all appearance, when 
day dawned on the morning of the sixth of January. They carried me 
to the Parson's house, and after an hour or two restored animation. 



mtL-SIDE AND fiORDER SKlfiTCHES', 27 

Would to God they had left me where they found me, or come A little 
later." 

I looked at the unhappy man. He Was past the noon of life, and 
exhibited a frame and face which had been exposed from youth to storm 
and suri, and had endured every severity of climate — 

" From Egypt's fifes to Zembla's frost." 

His figure was middle-sized, square, and muscular f and hfs face^ 
notwithstanding its expression of despondency, showed all the lines 
which indicate endurance of purpose, and contempt of danger. I never 
saw dejection and determination so strangely blended upon the human 
countenance ; but still the union of such characteristics is not uncom- 
mon ; and I remember among my acquaintance — -alas ! how few of the 
earlier ones remain ! — men with nerve to crown a breach, or head a 
boarding party, who would sink under some paltry disappointment that 
a school-girl would smile at. 

"My friend," I said, handing him a glass of wine, "you look every 
inch a man. The bold and brave meet the storm when it comes, and 
rise superior to misfortune. You have before you twenty years of 
vigorous life, if there be reliance in thews and sinews ; and" during that 
space, what may not pruJence and good luck accomplish ?" 

" It is true. Sir," returi^ed the mariner • " and I admit that fortune 
has smiled upon me frequenti V ; but, curse the jade ! after a gleam of 
sunshine she always took me aback, and at a time when I least expect- 
ed it. Well, I bore misfortune like a man ; buckled with the world' 
anew ; pulled up lee-way gallantly ; but d— n me f 1 never couki 
come to anchor in the long run. I have been laid lifeless on the beach >' 
passed thirteen burning days floating v^n the wide Atlantic, without one 
drop of water to moisten my parching L'psT. I have been cut down upon 
a Frenchman's deck ; dragged out three weary years in prison. One 
while, have been master of a thousand poii nds ; another, not worth this^ 
button on my jacket. I have served on boi'^rd a man-o'-war ; sailed a; 
privateer's-man ; sealed on the islands of New' Zealand, and whaled on 
the coast of Greenland. Ten times, I was master of a little fortune ; 
and ten times, accident left me on the world witi^o^t a guinea. Welly 
I struggled up the hill anew — but even iron will n'o« last for ever ; and 
though it may seem an idle vaunt to say it, as stPQt a heart as ever 
manned a gun in action, or reefed a topsail in a gale ^^ wind, is now 
broken — ay, broken — fairly broken !" 

" Nay, never despond, my friend. Remember the Scottish adage^ 
' Tyne heart tyne a'.' Before morning breaks, the nigh'*^ is darkest ; 
and though that slippery baggage has frowned of late, Da ^^ Fortune 
may yet make the amende honorable.^' 

" Were I," returned the mariner, " alone to pay the penality o^ ^Y 
madness in placing rash reliance in the statements of specious ^naves^ 
by Heaven ! I could muster courage to still seek out an honesi* mde- 
pendence, although I had to commence life at fifty, and that too ht^^^ 
the mast. But, and in a few sentences, you shall know all that is nee *s- 
sary. to be known of one of the greatest fools who, even in these days o* 
folly, allowed himself to be robbed by a gang of swindlers." 



28 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES, 

" I shall listen with attention," I replied, and the unhappy dupe thus 
continued : 

" Seven vears ago, I married ; and never did man wed one more 
deserving of his love and confidence, than the woman who is now mourn- 
ing over the folly of her husband. I had saved a little money ; but 
children came fast — the coasting-trade was bad — and I began to feel un- 
easy at the prospect of a large family and declining means, when an 
offer was made me to command a whaler going to the South Seas. Four 
years is a large spell of human life ; and it is hard to part with those we 
love for so long a term of one's existence. But tempting advantages 
were connected with the offer ; and I sacrificed my own feelings to the 
interest of those dependent on me, and accepted the appointment. 

" I returned at the end of the usual time, after a safe and prosperous 
voyage, richer by twelve hundred pounds ; and when considering in 
what manner I could best invest my little capital, those two ruffian^ who 
you see drinking their wine below, and laughing in their sleeves at 
those they have plundered so successfully, marked me for a victim. It 
would only madden me to tell, and pain you to listen to the means 
by which the scoundrels fooled me. It is enough to say, that their 
scheme was a mere bubble, and concocted for the sole purpose of spoli- 
ating unwary individuals like myself. Their Hll was scouted ; their 
swindling company dissolved : and / avi ruined. When a man has four 
helpless beings looking to him for daily bread — ah, Sir ! it is a bitter 
thought, that their natural protector had flung the means of supporting 
them away !" 

He turned round. I saw a tear stealing down his sun-burnt cheek ; 
and explained to my fair companion the cause of the sorrow that she 
witnessed. 

" Ah ! then, mon Colonel .'" observed the artless girl, with a sigh ; 
" there are more Fouchards in the world than one !" 

*' Alas ! dear Ninette," I replied, " there are Fouchards to be found 

in every clime and country." 

* * * * * * * 

Early the next morning, the steamer entered" the Humber — and the 
pier, where our voyage vtis to terminate, became visible from the deck, 
and an acquaintance sifigularly formed, and one whose remembrance 
will cause deep interest when I recall it, must end. As we neared the 
city, my fair companon became more nervous and unhappy ; and now 
and again, though she strove to overcome her grief, tears would 
start to the eye, and betray the painful struggle between hope and fear 
which was passing in her bosom. 

" Courage, iny dear Ninette," I whispered, as I marked the agitation 
of my fair companion. 

" Ah ! ny dear friend !" she replied, " it is fearful to think that the 
crisis of my fate is at hand ; and that half an hour will determine the 
future colour of a life." 

The vessel reached the pier. Many were there expecting the arri- 
val of their friends ; but poor Ninette looked earnestly at the crowd 
upon the wharf, and no face save that of the stranger met her anxious eye. 
I conducted her on shore, saw her luggage safely landed, and brought 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 29 

her to the hotel named in the instructions written for her guidance, by 
the mysterious personage who had apparently assumed the control of 
her future fortunes. At her desire, I inquired from the waiter whether 
a young lady had been expected to arrive by the steamer, and were any 
person in attendance to receive her ? 

" Yes ; there was a lady in the drawing-room," and he showed us 
the way to the apartment. 

The appearance of the stranger was prepossessing. A woman 
probably past fifty, and one whose beauty in earlier life must have been 
remarkable. She politely welcomed the fair traveller ; and, as I 
thought, examined her with marked attention. In tolerable French, 
she proceeded to inform Mademoiselle St. Aubyn, that Sir Edward 
Trevellian had confided her for the present to her care. 

" Sir Edward Trevellian !" burst from Ninette's lips. 

" Yes ; on the death of his uncle a few months ago, Edward had 
succeeded to the baronetcy and estates." 

I observed the colour totally desert the fair one's cheeks, as with an 
evident exertion and in trembling accents, she muttered a hope that 
" Sir Edward was well." 

" Oh, yes !" was the reply ; " and busy preparing for his marriage, 
which is intended to be solemnized almost immediately." 

Poor Ninette ! That fatal communication was too much. She 
uttered a wild scream — and had I not caught her in my arms, would 
have fallen on the carpet. The task of supporting the fainting girl 
was not long left to me ; for, from a screen behind, a man sprang for- 
ward, pressed her to his bosom, and as he covered her lips with kisses, 
exclaimed : 

" Ay, dearest one ! circumstances have changed, and I can now 
follow the dictates of my heart. Before to-morrow's sun sinks in 
ocean, Edward Trevellian will indeed be wedded ; and thou, my sweet 
Ninette, may name the bride. There — I confide thee to a mother's 
embrace ; and if truth in love be good warranty for filial duty, in thee, 
my loved one, she will find a daughter she may pride in. And, Sir," 
he continued, turning to me, " as I suspect I am under much obligation 
to you for protecting a lady, whom singular circumstances prevented 
me from protecting myself, may I inquire the name of him to whom I 
am so deeply debtor ?" 

I handed him my card, and added — 

" One, Sir Edward, who, had you not decided on making Ninette a 
wife, had resolved on making her a daughter. But to older and stronger 
rights I must defer, and I fear continue childless." 

" Not so, my dear Colonel. Lady Trevellian will require a father 
to-morrow at the altar ; and where will she find a kinder or a braver 
one ?" 

I returned a willing consent — and next morning gave my parental 
benediction to Ninette Trevellian : and, may I add, pressed the lips of 
the most interesting and artless girl, whose " course of love " had been 
pure as constant, and ended as it should do— smoothly. 



30 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Sunday has dawned again ; and although Galium Beg declares in 
Waverley, that it never comes abune a Highland pass with an unpro- 
nounceable name, I dissent from the young reprobate altogether ; and I 
hereby avow, that I never saw a Sabbath kept more religiously than 
yesterday's was in the Lammermuir. Accident gave it a deeper in- 
terest — for the young man killed by lightning on Friday, was on that 
day to be interred in the ancient burial-ground attached to the Abbey 
of Saint Bathans. 

If funeral ceremonies, as some assert, portray the character of a 
nation, both England and Ireland should reform theirs altogether. The 
former is marked by heartless parade — 'the latter by more disgusting 
brutality. The troop of idle blackguards who escort an English funeral 
through the streets on foot, will be seen grouped on the top of the hearse 
when returning, indulging in the Virginian weed, and, frequently, in 
uproarious laughter ; — whilst in Ireland, a procession to the grave is 
followed by an endless banditti with cudgels and cota-mores,* and a 
tribe of women kinnaying,\ or courting, according to age, circumstance, 
or inclination. Of the abomination of an Irish wake, it is enough to 
say that it commences with drunken revelry, and ends not unfrequently 
in murder ; — while the wail of death, in one end of the cabin, is an- 
swered by hilarious mirth from the room where the corpse is laid out, 
accompanied too often by songs not remarkable for their delicacy. I 
remember going once to the house of death, where a fine young man 
had been struck dead by accident ; and avoiding the revelry in the 
room where the deceased was confined, I sought out the widowed girl — 
for a girl she was, scarcely nineteen ; — and what added melancholy 
interest to the visitation, hourly expecting to become a mother. In her, 
poor soul ! there was no mockery of grief — no parade of sorrow. 
** Ah ! Colonel," she said, as I offered consolation as I best could, " I 
never thought I loved Pat half so well until I lost him !" At the 
moment a burst of merriment broke from the chamber where the dead 
man lay. I saw every feature of her face convulse — every limb shud- 
der, as she wildly grasped my hand in hers. " Oh, God ! I could bear 
all but that laughter !" she exclaimed. " It kills me. Colonel !" 

In England, the wretched tenement of clay is occasionally kept 
over ground until it becomes offensive ; while in Ireland, an indecent 
haste too frequently marks tlie hurried funeral. In Scotland they man- 
age matters better, — the house of death -exhibits a religious quiet ; not 
a whisper disturbs the mourner's sorrows ; save when the minister 
turns the occasion to account, pointing out that the grave is the goal 
which prince and peasant must reach alike — the end of his hopes, his 
pursuits, his toil, and his ambition. The same decency with which 
the bed of death has been respected, distinguishes the conduct of the 

* A frieze great-coat. 

t The kinneagh is the wild lament performed by the women who are paid for their 
trouble, and who care as much for the departed, aa they do for a dead horse. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 31 

funeral ; and the transit of the departed to his narrow house, is solemn 
as regards the dead — -imposing, as a lesson to the living. 

I was apprized that the body was to be lifted at eleven in the fore- 
noon ; and as four miles of moorland must be traversed, it would require 
a couple of hours to reach the Abbey, wliere one cut off so suddenly 
in youth and health was to take his rest. I clomb the wooded height 
which domineers Mrs. Pringle's caravanserai — and from its summit, 
obtained a charming and extensive view over one of the sweetest dis- 
tricts of the border country. When I say that — as Tippoo Sultaun 
used to conclude his letters — " Need I say more ?" 

The beauty of the Lammermuir is only equalled by its loneliness ; 
miles occasionally intervene between the farm-steadings ; and I have 
fished the Whitadder from Auld Martha's to the Elmford, without meet- 
ing an angler on the stream. As I looked from the hill over a vast 
expanse of swelling knolls and cultivated valleys, the silent repose 
which reigned over all was most imposing ; for here, the Sabbath is so 
rigidly respected, that no act that could infringe on its solemnity would 
be attempted. I felt how perfect the seclusion was — and repeated By- 
ron's words involuntarily, 

" This — this is solitude !" 

Still the picture was imperfect ; but the calm and holy silence of 
all I surveyittl wanted but one thing to render its melancholy quietude 
complete, ana that was the appearance of the distant funeral. From 
my elevation I commanded a view of at least two miles of the mainland 
it must pass over, and presently several dark figures rounded a green 
knoll, and told me that the procession to the narrow house was now ap- 
proaching. 

The funeral attendants who followed the hearse, whose white-craped 
mort-cloth told that the occupant was unmarried, did not exceed twenty ; 
but as they approached the Abbey, from different farm-steadings, the 
owners and their servants joined the funeral, until the number that fol- 
lowed the corpse might have reached to fifty. All were habited in de- 
cent mourning, and walked two and two. When the hearse reached 
the entrance of the burial-ground, the body was removed on hand-spikes 
— the father and elder brother at the head, and tAvo younger kinsmen 
at the feet. No formula for the departed was read ; no prayer was of- 
fered up ; not a whisper passed the lips of the lookers-on ; but a 
throstle whistled in the ash-tree that overhung the Abbey, and a red- 
breast sang merrily frem a white-thorn bush. The grave was filled, 
the sods replaced and flattened with the spade — and the ceremony being 
complete, every head was uncovered for a minute, and then the mourn- 
ers left the grave-yard with the same solemn silence with which they 
had entered it. In my mind, nothing can equal the imposing simplicity 
of a Scottish funeral. With the obsequies of him whose trade was 
war, the wailing dead-march, the unbraced drum, the roll of mus- 
ketry, happily assimilate — the pealing organ, the torch-lit cloister, the 
stoled priest, the surpliced choristers, become the noble well. But for 
him, who through humble life, had " held the noiseless tenor of his 
way," a silent ceremonial and a solitude like Saint Bathans should be 
all that told that the quiet of existence v/as exchanged for the 



32 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" Sleep that knows not breaking." 

As I lay on the hill-side in the morning, . and saw the quiet proces- 
sion issue from the glen, I could not but contrast its reverend decency, 
with the brutal indifTerence to the feelings of the living which mark an 
Irish funeral. The Hundreds of lawless blackguards which accompany 
the latter are trooped after by as many women ; and the semblance of 
sorrow is not even assumed. The laugh, and joke, and " coortin," con- 
tinues till the grave is reached — and afterwards, the piiblic-house suc- 
ceeds the cemetery. The orgies there are bloody or brutal, just as the 
state of factious feeling may exist ; and the next Petty Sessions proba- 
bly discloses a death or delinquency, at which a well-regulated mind 
will shudder. I know that I risk much from telling the simple truth ; 
and that on every one who describes Ireland as it is, was, and will be 
(eheu !), unwashed patriots pour out their phials. The discharge is not 
destructive ; and as the " gutter " commissioner of ' the Times ' — by 
the way, I never could see the point of Dan's epithet — survived his au- 
dacity in asserting that — barring the dhng-hill that blocked it up — there 
was marvellous good air on the Deninane estate conveyed through the 
unglazed windows — an interesting association between pigs and chil- 
aren — and stepping-stones to assist the visitor to reach the hearth with- 
out the necessity of wading the floor — I have but little to apprehend. 
Well, I assert fearlessly, that among the " finest pisantry " will bo 
found the most superlative ruffians — voild rcxempJe. 

Is there a man who has ever been cursed with a temporary residence 
in an Irish caravanserai, and who, if his hapless lot fell out on the day 
or evening of a funeral, who will ever forget the same 1 The opening 
of the visit, after dust has been committed to dust, commences with 
loud demands for whiskey ; the noise increases ; the uproar becomes 
louder still ; oath and argument succeed ; all speak and swear to- 
gether : and then a difference arises among " the merrie throng " touch- 
ing a disputed noggin. The hostess — for generally the presiding 
divinity over these temples dedicated to " the feast of reason and the 
flow of soul " is feminine — conducts her establishment on the principle 
that " the word is pitch and pay," — and " she honest woman won't 
stand no gammon whatsomever," as the denizens of Cockayne express 
it. Pat declares that Peter called the last subsidy, and refuses to fork 
out three-pence. Peter demurs ; the landlady insists ; the lie direct is 
followed by a blow ; a row commences; the landlady endeavours to eject 
the company with a hot poker or scalding water into the street, as in the 
West they call the Queen's high road ; and what in the meanwhile be- 
comes of you 1 Your apartment is invaded by the non-belligerent re- 
questing shelter, while a broth of a boy dashes in to demand which of 
the contending houses you patronize, Montague or Capulet, in order 
that if you have made a wrong choice, you may catch the condign 
upon the spot. In ten minutes the affair is happily arranged. Patrick 
Casey goes to the county infirmary with a fractured skull, and Petei 
Morraghan agrees to pay the controverted three-pence. Such is the 
rise, progress, and decline of an Irish row. 

I reached old Martha's hostelrie before any of the attendants on the 
funeral arrived. The day was painfully hot ; and over four miles of 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 33 

bare unsheltered heather, a funeral procession would be exhausting. I 
believe consequently, that, with half a dozen exceptions, all who had 
followed the departed, repaired, after they saw him consigned to kin- 
dred clay, to Mattie's for refreshment. The decorum that was observed 
I shall never forget ; and though separated but two or three yards from 
the kitchen, I could not have guessed whether two or twenty were re- 
galing there. Orders for what they wanted were delivered in a whis- 
per ; and within an hour, when the lassie came to lay the dinner-cloth, 
I Avas the only occupant of Mrs. Pringle's hotel. 

A very different scene, on the last Sabbath evening, was presented 
in this quiet change-house. A dozen Irish vagabonds penetrated this 
secluded glen from the Edinburgh railway, where they have been for a 
year or two employed. After two hours' noise and drinking, they fell 
out among themselves ; and a one-armed pensioner and old Mattie, who 
strove to pacify these savages, were both brutally knocked down and 
trampled on. After this valorous feat, these splendid specimens of 
" the finest pisantry on earth " levanted in double quick, and as old Mattie 
added with a sigh, " forgot to pay the lawing." Indeed, the character 
given of the Irish in the district between Ayton and Dunbar is deplor- 
able. Earning at least double the wages they could obtain at home, 
and even in some cases treble the amount, their conduct throughout a 
term of two years has been infamous. The Sabbath, observed so re- 
ligiously in Scotland, was desecrated by their drunken debauchery ; 
and for a week after their monthly pay-day, no traveller dare venture 
to pass the road, as troops of these intoxicated savages would fall on the 
solitary stranger, and, without the semblance of provocation, maltreat 
a man they had never seen before. At last, these barbarians became 
so intolerable, that it was necessary to obtain a military force from 
Edinburgh to restrain their violence. 'Tis said by schoolmen that 
people earn golden opinions by their virtues. Now what the metallic 
character may be of the reminiscences which the Irish navigators — a 
queer term, by the way, for men whose operations are exclusively con- 
fined to terra firma — will leave behind, would be rather difficult to 
determine. 



CHAPTER V. 

?^ MtrcH difference in taste is evinced in estimating the virtues of a 
•'Country. Now, if the opinion of the traveller who blessed God he 
was in Christendom again were correct, in Scotland you might fancy 
you were in heathen land, as from one end to the other of " the land of 
cakes," a solitary gallows could not be found. Here and there you will 
find a pair of stocks — but like the cuttie-stool, their " occupation's gone." 
I was, from the door of Mrs. Agnes Dodds — to whose hospitable care I 
can safely recommend the traveller who visits Norham — looking up the 
street at a Herculean sort of pepper-box in granite which has replaced 
the ancient cross, and carelessly observed to my ancient companion, in 
what excellent order the stocks which stand beside it were — 

3 



34 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" Ah, these jougs are na ower auld, for they were mad new aboot 
twenty years ago, and I'll tell ye, Colonel, why. A tinker stole a guse 
fra the minister, and the constable set him in the stocks. It was a fine 
simmer nicht, and they thought they would leave him to cool his taes, 
and meditate on his transgressions until morning. The jougs were auld 
and ricketty, and when the bedrel rose next day to let the deevil loose, 
hegh, mon ! stocks and tinker were gone, for he had gane aff after dark, 
an' carried the jougs alang wi' him." 

" Another Samson with the gates of Gaza, George ; and are the 
present jougs, as you call them, often tenanted ?" 

" Na, na. It's full ten year syne I mind that ony one was cockit in 
them, an' that was an Irishman an' his wife, for smashin' a' the chiney- 
ware in auld Rob Donaldson's crockery shop. Weel, the funniest part 
was when they were lockit in, an' their legs safe in the woodie, and 
they could na get ony one to fight wi', they differed themsels, and hegh, 
faith ! the woman lickit the mon. I mind her weel — the quean was 
unco' Strang, and offered af they would free her fra the jougs, to box 
ony man in Norham." 

"Ah !" I exclaimed, " Hurra, for ould Ireland !" for even the Nor- 
ham stocks brought with its history a pleasing and a flattering reminis- 
cence of ' the gem of the sea.' There was indeed, a herione ; another 
Penthisilia — a regular out-and-outer — a spirit not to be subdued — one 
that even with her legs in limbo, scorned to give in, and offered to come 
to the scratch with any gentleman willing to set-to — the best he or she 
to win, and no mistake. It is melancholy to think that in the stream 
of time this lady's name has perished. But there's no justice for 
Ireland, or this forgotten fair would have formed a prominent feature in 
the statistical account of the parish. During a Peninsular siege, a 
soldier's wife received the brevet rank of " heroine of Matagorda," for 
carrying a pitcher of water from a well that lay directly under the fire 
of the enemy — Grace Darling was immortalized for saving the crew and 
passengers of a wrecked steamer — but would either of them, with 
" their taes cockit in the woodie," as old George termed it, have made 
the sporting offer which the fair daughter of Erin did ? Well may we 
exclaim in Byron's words — 

" Strike thy bold harp, green isle — ^the lady is thine own .'" 

* * » * » 

Confound thunder showers. The Tweed was clearing beautifully, 
when in some of the Cheviots a water-spout appears to have burst — for 
although we have not had a drop of rain here, the stream is drum- 
melled * and without any apparent cause, the river has waxed, f and 
down it rolls, in colour more like XXX than water. Shade of Walton I 
thou, patient as thou wert, would have execrated the elements, and will 
sympathize with thy disciple. I had procured a bowl-full of lively 
minnows, screwed my rod together, wound, not the willow, but half-a- 
dozen casting lines round my hat, and expected at least a creel-full, 
when in comes old George to announce that " she's sair drummelled, 
and winna answer at a'." I submit. It is the will of Allah ! 

* Muddied. t Wax, means to swell or increase. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 35 

I was sitting and almost, as it may be imagined, inconsolable, when 
a newly-discovered cannon-ball was brought me, and I have added an 
invaluable specimen to my collection. Every man on some point or 
other is insane, I admit on this subject I am generally supposed to be 
a little distrait., not that I harbour any design against human life by a 
fancy for these agents of destruction, and take this preliminary step 
towards evading justice by pleading monomania. All men have pecu- 
liar tastes. Some collect antiquated books, others delight in congre- 
gating halters, and why may not I indulge in cannon-balls ? 

After dinner I strolled down the Tweed to the village of Horncliff, 
where a beautiful bend in the stream forms one of the best salmon 
pools which the river offers to the angler. We passed through the 
court-yard of the castle, and took the pathway which leads through the 
Mains, a scope of rich land, in old times used for pasturing the cattle 
which supplied rations to the garrison.* From this side the site of the 
breachiag battery on a hill beyond the Tweed, at a distance of six or 
seven hundred yards, and from which the Scottish armies battered the 
fortress, is best seen ; and the rebuilding of the eastern revetement is 
evidently the last repaid the castle received, and proves that the fire of 
the besiegers, notwithstanding the defective artillery of the time, was 
impressive. 

The masonry of the keep gives evidence of being frequently in- 
jured and restored ; and I should say that one part of the donjon was 
at least three centuries older than the other. The exterior is mere 
patchwork-^large sections of the walls being built indifferently of 
granite and red freestone. The extensive vaults, of which a part of 
the arches have fallen in, were no doubt thickly tenanted with pris- 
oners. The castellan was his own chief-justice, and to effect a general 
jail delivery he had every convenience, for within a bow-shot of the 
huge tower stand " the hanging hill," and close beside it " the gibbet 
field," What a pleasant prospect the windows of a feudal castle would 
present, when half-a-dozen malefactors had been justified that morn- 
ing ! No wonder that my Lady Ford levanted, and took up her head- 
quarters in Edinburgh— for Norham, if Scott's description is not ultra- 
poetical, was at best but a rough establishment ; even the conduct of 
the clergy, including the domestic chaplain himself, being at times 
such as might have been considered a little irregular.f 

* There is, in the British Museum, Cal. B. 6. 216, a curious Memoir of the, Dacres 
on the state of Norham Castle, in 1522, not long after the battle of Flodden. The 
inner ward, or keep, is represented as impregnable : — " The provisions are three great 
vats of salt eels, forty-four kine, three hogsheads of salted salmon, forty quarters of 
grain, besides many cows, and four hundred sheep, lying under the castle-wall nightly ; 
but a number of the arrows wanted feathers, and a good fletcher (i.e. maker of arrows) 
was required." — History of Scotland, vol. 11. p. 201. 
t " Our Norham vicar, woe betide, 

Is all too well in case to ride. 

The priest of Shoreswood— he could reir 

The wildest war-horse in your train ; 

But then, no spearmen in the hall ^ 

Will sooner swear, or stab, or brawl. 

Friar John of Tillmouth were the man ; 



35 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

ii'i:; j/ . 

' ' Amid the mass of grass-grown ruins which cover the extensive 
area which lies within the enceinte of this once important fortress, but 
one part of the remnant of the external defences can be traced distinctly, 
and that is the fosse which insulated the keep. I presume it was a 
wet ditch, although whence supplied with water is hard to ascertain. 
About half a century since, the well that afforded water to the castle 
was accidentally discovered ; but it was perfectly filled up with the 
rubbish and the debris of the donjon. It was excavated by order of 
Sir Francis Blake, until, at the depth of ninety feet, the water rose. 
The masonry was excellent, and proved that the art of well-sinking 
was perfectly understood in auld lang syne. Over the orifice, a huge 
flag is placed, to keep, as old George says, " the sheep an' callants frae 
tumlin' in." The loss of valuable quadrupeds would be certainly 
inconvenient to the proprietors, but I do think that Norham might well 
spare a dozen or two " callants" — for the alarming spread of population 
in an Irish fishing village, in my opinion, falls infinitely short of this 
prolific place. Let Harriet Martineau avoid it. 

About the time that the well was discovered, permission was given 
the persons who tenanted the adjacent farm, to clear out the ditch, and 
manure the land with the earthy matter it contained, probably the 
deposit of many centuries. In the course of this operation, the remains '■ 
of many ancient weapons were discovered, and a human skeleton was 
. found in excellent preservation. What a train of fanciful conjecture 
arises from this resurrection of decayed mortality ! Was that death 
the effect of accident, or midnight murder ? Did the poor wretch, 
staggering hilariously from a drunken revel, find this ignoble grave ? 
Or did the considerate castellan, in compliment to some fair one's 
feelings, substitute water for hemp, as the casement of my lady''s 
boudoir looked out upon the hanging hill ? What strange and fearful 
recollections are associated with the secret history of every feudal 
fortress ! 

In the process of clearing the choked-up ditch, more valuable 
reliques of antiquity than " cold iron," were discovered, and tradition 
says, that a chest of treasure was dug up by the fortunate excavators. 
" I dinna tak on me," remarked old George, " to say hoo far the story 
may be true — but this I know weel fra my ain feyther, that the men 
unyoked their carts in the middle o' the day, and never were seen at a 
pleugh-tail afterwards, but lived and died like gentlemen." 

Several of the cannon-balls in my possession were found in the 
clearing of \h\s fosse. The most remarkable is a stone shot of enormous 

But that good man, as ill befalls, 

Hath seldom left our castle walla. 

Since on the vigil of St. Bede, 

In evil hour he crossed the Tweed, 

To teach Dame Alison her creed. 

Old Bughtrig found him with his wife ; 

And John, an enemy to strife, 

Sans frock and hood fled for his life. 

The jealous churl hath deeply swore. 

That, if again he ventures o'er, 

He shall shrieve penitent no more." marmiou. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES, 37 

,si2e, and most excellent workmanship. It is a perfect sphere, and 
would require a ten-inch Paixhan to discharge it. Its discovery goes 
to prove what tradition has asserted, namely, that at one of the earlier 
sieges of Norham Castle, the celebrated " Mons Meg" was employed ; 
save that gun, there was no piece of ordnance extant at the time which 
had calibre for such a bullet. 

The variety of the balls, and the difference in their material, is 
strongly illustrative of the rude construction of old artillery, and all 
the appurtenances attached to field and siege ordnance ; and the 
confusion which of necessity would arise from the number of 
bores of the cannon in those days, must have sadly embarrassed the 
men employed in working them. In the collection I have made, I have 
balls used at the sieges of Norham, Tantallon, Berwick, and Dunbar ; 
and out of twenty-one, there are seventeen of different calibres, 
ranging from what in metal, would weigh seventy or eighty pounds, to 
one of four ounces and a half. Some are stone, others cast-iron, two 
are malleabie metal, roughly rounded on the anvil ; one is granite 
covered with a coating of lead, and several are lead entirely. The 
largest of the latter metal, weighs five pounds and a half, and was 
discharged from the Castle of Norham at an advancing enemy — as it 
was found this present spring, in a field at the distance of a quarter of 
a mile from the keep, by men occupied in draining. 

The balls of hammered iron were discovered in the ruins of Tan- 
tallon, and bear evident appearance of being rudely fabricated by the 
sledge, as every portion of the surfece carries on it marks of the foro-e- 
hammer. The larger is a nine-pound shot, the smaller a six-pounder 
— and both, I apprehend, had been projected from " Thrawn-mouth'd 
Mow or her Marrow," and one of the " two great botcards."* The 
casting of the metal balls — three, four, and five pounds, is spherically 
correct, but the surface so rough, that they seem to have been moulded 
in coarse sand. 

The spiral stair-case, by which the upper floors and battlements of 
the castle could be reached, was demolished a century ago, from the 
Norham callants in their search for jackdaws and young pigeons, hav- 
ing occasionally met with serious accidents in climbing these lofty 
Avails. " At last," continued old George, " a bit body of a sweep had 
a tumble fra the top, and hurt himself a wee thing." 

" Egad, he must have been rather the worse of such a tumble, 
Geoi^e. Did he break any bones ?" 

" I dinna ken that precesely ; but I know that he broke his neck," 
Svas the cool reply. 

" That was quite sufficient, George." 

" So to prevent mair damage, the whole of the stones were pued 
awa." 

* James V. laid siege to Tantallon in 1527, " and for its reduction, borrowed from 
the Castle of Dunbar, then belonging to the Duke of Albany, two great cannons, 
whose names, as Pitscottie informs us with laudable minuteness, were ' Thrawn- 
mouth'd Mow and her Marrow ;' also, ' two great botcards, and two moyan, two 
double falcons, and four quarter falcons ; for the safe-guiding and re-delivery of which, 
three lords were laid in pawn at Dunbar.' " — Marmion. 



38 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" And," I said to myself, " was all this trouble taken because fhis 
sooty gentleman dislocated his vertebrte ? Ah ! blessings on you, Tip- 
perary ! If a corporation of sweeps cracked their necks in thee, thou 
land of Goshen, the devil a man from one end of the county to the other 
would step over the threshold, if a recurrence of the accident could be 
prevented by the removal of a chimney-pot !" 



CHAPTER VL 



One of the most striking entrances from the English border inta th^ 
Land of Cakes, is by the beautiful stone bridge which crosses the 
Tweed at Coldstream. The scenery is quiet — nothing that an artist 
would value at a pin's fee — above, a fine, broad expanse of shining river 
— while immediately below, a dam-head drawn from bank to bank, 
forms an enormous pool where salmon, fresh from sea, delight to rest in, 
after their first run from salt-water has been successfully but laborious- 
ly accomplished. But though the artist would pass it unregarded by, 
and certainly, 

" Tweed's fair river, broad and deep," 

affords so many splendid and romantic combinations, on which the pen- 
cil may be gloriously employed, that tamer subjects will not arrest 
attention, there is another class of peripatetic philosophers who swear by 
Coldstream Bridge. To the worshipper of Walton there is fascination 
in the pool — while above the bridge, the bright unruffled sheet of water 
which the eye meets for a quarter of a mile, in the repose of a still 
spring evening, literally appears animated — every yard of the brilliant 
surface being broken by a thousand circles — and each announcing that 
an ephemeral history has been completed, and an insect is no more. 

But though this long smooth expanse of bright water is tenanted by 
a myriad of the fish an angler loves, he rarely hopes to fill a basket 
there, imtil sky, wind, and water favourably unite to assist him. 
Where the stream elbows off, and becomes invisible from the bridge, 
there lies the El Dorado. For a bow-shot, the Tweed falls gradually 
over a rocky bottom, affording such a constant succession of sharp runs 
and broken water, that if the eidoleon of Isaac the " quaint and cruel" 
— as Byron most irreverently terms that father of the faithful — be ever 
permitted to revisit this pale orb, can it be doubted but many a mid- 
night hour is passed there quietly by the old gentleman ? Indeed the 
quantity of trouts which frequent these shallows is immense. On the 
(preceding evening, being unfortunately alone in mine inn, and not being 
inclined to resort to the Irish expedient of drinking the right hand 
against the left, I made a late sally to the river. To this — not an hun- 
dred yards of water, I confined myself — and in an hour and a half — all 
the space that light permitted — I had basketed five dozen and a half of 
scaly victims, ranging in weight from an ounce to a pound. 

* * * * * iti ilf 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 39 

A spaight had brought up a number of clean fish early in the week, 
and although the water had cleared, the wind and sky appeared by 
mutual consent to have entered into an unholy alliance against the 
angler. As even approached, however, a few clouds and a fitful breeze 
induced me to make an attempt upon the salmon-pool below the bridge, 
and I despatched my jidus Achates — Mr. Clancy — to put my rod to- 
gether and launch the cobble. My head-quarters were at Cornfield — an 
Ugly village with a most comfortable inn — and ten minutes' walk 
brought me to the scene of action, where boat and rod were waiting my 
arrival. 

The weather proved unfavourable after all. The clouds were " few 
and far between " — the breeze came in what sailors term " cats'-paws." 
— and when you had secured the assistance of the one, the other was 
certain to be absent. I stirred a salmon twice, close to an opening in 
the weir left purposely for his accommodation ; but the third time, he 
ruffled water and merely looked at the fly — a contemptuous indolence 
marking the lazy effort, as if he meant to insinuate that he repudiated 
one of the most artistic flies in my collection, as if it had been a Penn- 
sylvanian bond: It was idle to tempt him longer : the ordinary imita- 
tion of a butterfly was scornfully rejected ; triple gut was offensive to 
his eye ; and, as a last resource, I substituted a delicate trout-line, with 
a couple of diminutive beauties attached thereto, which even a plethoric 
salmon might fancy on the same principle, that an overgorged alder- 
tnan, to whom deer and turtle have become abominations, when he 
can't manage a woodcock, contents himself with a snipe. 

I had hardly effected the exchange, and wetted and stretched my 
casting-line, whfen a cloud passed across the sun, and a breeze eddied 
through the arch, and rippled the pool delightfully. Away went the 
flies — and as the cast was happily executed, they dropped like thistle- 
down upon the surface. A salmon, like a lady, sometimes takes 
strange fancies. Up rose the indolent one — made a dash at the tail-fly 
— swallowed it — discovered his mistake — and then rushing along the 
barrier that formed the weir, he carried out, fast as the reel could 
deliver it, some seventy yards of line. Great delicacy was necessary ; 
our reliance being in single gut — and a saltation by which, when 
pricked, he had I suppose intended to effect an instant emancipation, 
showing him a twelve-pounder, while his arched back and silvery 
scales* announced him to be in the full vigour of a direct arrival from 
the ocean, and a fish that had not as yet experienced the sickening 
influence of fresh water. ' 

After one or two rapid runs, he sulked and settled himself at the 
bottom. My ground-gear was too delicate to warrant me in teazing 
him into action — and my only chance was to play a cautious game. I 
had a fine clean pool in which to operate, could I but persuade the 
silver-scaled gentleman to let that remain the field of battle. But the 
pool had its Scylla and Charybdis. The arches of the bridge were 

* The change which a salmon undergoes on leaving the sea, and exchanging salt 
for fresh water, is rapid and remarkable. His silver becomes a dingy red, and the 
JicrncR Salmonem which adhered to his skin drop off. An experienced angler will, 
from the look of the fish, tell almost by what tide he entered the river. 



40 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 



open to him, should he fancy to rush up the river ; and if he rubbed 
my slight tackle against a buttress, to a dead moral, he would be " the 
spoil of me ;" while if the devil put it into his head to make a rush 
throuf^h " the King's gap,"* then, indeed, to continue Jack Falstaff's 
parlance, I should be regulary " past praying for." To prevent this 
dreadful calamity, Clancy kept the cobble as near the opening in the 
dam-head as prudence would permit — and as the evening was fine, the 
bridge was crowded with spectators, who looked over the parapet to 
see how the set-to between Mr. Briddawn* and myself would terminate ; 
and, indeed, they were not long delayed before they witnessed i\ie finale 
of the contest. 

Suddenly, my active adversary recommenced hostilities. After a 
spring above water of three feet, he rushed to the northern arch of the 
bridge ; but a stone or two thrown judiciously by an amateur alarmed 
him, and he turned. As the fancy say, he " had, however, made him- 
self up for mischief," and finding obstructions presented to his intention 
of removing up the river — suadente diabolo — he resolved at all hazards 
to run down it. Straight as an arrow, he made directly for the royal 
gap — and in vain Clancy interposed the cobble to alarm him. At this 
unhappy moment, a thowel-pin broke short — the punt became un- 
manageable — and the reel could not take up the line fast enough to 
obtain command of a fish who seemed determined to run a muck. 
Down he went over the fall, and, as his Satanic Majesty would have 
it, the punt and my valet followed him. With better fortune, and just 
as Mr. Clancy entered the King's gap, I made a spring and lighted in 
safety on the dam-head. As the fall is not more than six feet high, 
and the water not very deep, Peter's disaster was followed by no worse 
consequences than a complete drenching, and a roar of laughter from 
the bridge. The fellow managed to gain the bank, picked up the 
broken fishing-rod, and joined me on the bridge, whither I had repaired 
after a marvellous escape from anabaptism. 

On the Bofders, the sovereignest thing on earth for all misfortunes, 
mental or physical, lies in the whiskey-bottle ; and as there was a 
public-house close by, a supply of alcohol was to be obtained, and, 
consequently, for Mr. Clancy there was balm in Gilead. It being on 
the Scottish side, Hymen and Bacchus had entered into co-partnership, 
and made it a temple for the joint-occupancy of their respective vota- 
ries ; and as two matrimonial artists were resident in Coldstream, Mrs. 
MacCleverty could obtain either at a call ; and, as she averred, it very 
rarely happened that one or other of these invaluable jgentlemen was 
not sufficiently sober to rivet the hymeneal fetter. 

While the ill-starred attendant and I had been trying conclusions 
with the salmon, a carriage and four drove up to the Dun Cow, and a 
gentleman and lady dismounted — the object of their journey being 
avowedly to commit matrimony. Forthwith a message was despatched 
for one of the high priests, with especial directions to select the soberer 
of the twain ; and when I and my Hibernian aide-de-camp repaired to 

* King's gaps, are often spaces proscribed by Act of Parliament to be left in weirs 
and dam-heads, to allow the salmon room to run up and spawn, 
t The Irish name for a salmon. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 41 

ihe Dun Cow, we learned that the artist had just arrived, and that the 
love-sick couple were most impatient for the performance of the cere- 
mony. I looked, and with some attention at the personage who was 
about to tie the indissoluble knot. He bore no external appearance of 
ascetic severity that I could discover, but, on the contrary, his nose ex- 
hibited a rich mulberry tinge, and his dress struck me as not being 
rigidly canonical. Moreover, the venerable man appeared to me in that 
comfortable state which, as Mahomet's coffin is said to hang between 
heaven and earth, balanced so critically between drunkenness and 
sobriety, that no man, on corporal oath, if he hesitated to declare that 
the reverend gentleman was " fou," would venture to assert that he was 
" fasting." 

I had paid the small reckoning at the counter to " the lassie," and 
Was preparing to evacuate the kitchen of this Border caravanserai, when 
Mrs. MacCleverty issued from an inner chamber, which seemed to be 
that of state, and beckoned to him with the rubicund nose to enter this 
sanctum, where the lovers were, with proper delicacy, shrouded from 
vulgar gaze. The reverend personage obeyed the summons ; and as I 
was turning to depart, the hostess of the Dun Cow requested me to " stop 
a whee." She was the bearer of a message from the bridegroom elect, 
to request that I would do him the honour of giving the bride away. 
" Hughey Tamsan" — which, in common English meaneth Hugh 
Thompson — the wright next door, was unfortunately frae hame ; but if 
I would oblige the Captain, the wedding would go off more genteelly. 
The gentleman was an Irishman, for there was_ an O before his name. 
He had given it to her with his compliments — but troth ! she had jist 
managed to forget it. 

The proposition was embarrassing. I, of the despised order called 
old bachelors — one, whom no pledge of mutual love had ever blessed — 
one, whose heart infantine prattle had never delectated, as the smiling 
cherub in its first short clothes, 

" Lisped from. its father's knee," 

those delightful nothings, which glad the parent's soul, — here was I re- 
quired to accept iiistanter an adult daughter of whose birth, parentage, 
and education I was profoundly ignorant. Egad ! no. I would be next 
required I suppose to provide for the issue of the marriage, and there- 
fore determined to decline. 

" Would I oblige the Captain ?" 

That question was put happily by the hostess. There is freema- 
sonry among gentlemen of the sword. We were of the same order ; and 
would I see a brother of the blade inconvenienced ? Blood is thicker 
than water ; there was an O before his name ; we were both Emeralders 
of course ; and, by the Lord ! were it only for the honour of " the ould 
country," I could not, for the life of me, say no. I assented ; and Mrs. 
MacCleverty conducted me to the shrine of Hymen — the same shrine 
having a small window, an old-fashioned clock, a bed in one corner, and 
a cag of whiskey in the other. 

As I entered, the proprietor of the fair fugitive politely advanced 



42 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

to meet me ; but, when in the centre of the room, he came to a dead 
halt, and shading his eyes with his hand looked at me with fixed 
attention. 

" Arrah ! Hector, jewel, is that yourself?" drawled out a voice, in 
which surprise and uncertainty were united. In return, I took advan- 
tage of the better light the stranger stood in, to reconnoitre his outward 
man ; and, by everything hymeneal ! in the candidate for the holy estate, 
I recognized my 6ld fellow subaltern in the gallant 88th — Fitzgerald 
O'Boyle ! 

" It is myself, my dear Fitz — your friend in auld lang syne, and, if 
I understand the landlady, your father-in-law at present." 

" Oh, murder ! was there ever such luck ! My darling girl, let 
me introduce you to an old acquaintance, and one for whom I have 
the tenderest regard. This is my bosom friend, and an ould Peninsular 
— glory to the name ! though they're out of fashion now-a days. God 
be with the time when we slept under the same tree — ay ! and marched 
afterward eight and forty hours, on a ration that would scarce have 
satisfied a snipe. 

I saluted the lady. She was, indeed, a very pretty girl, and Friz 
was flattered at my approbation. The man with the rubicund nose 
hinted that the sooner matters were made safe the better. Witnesses 
were accordingly brought in — and in five minutes, Captain Ignacius 
Fitzgerald O'Boyle, and Maria Alexandrina Figgins were declared to 
be lawfully united. 

Evening was shutting in, when we took our departure from the Dun 
Cow for the hotel at Cornhill, whither I had despatched my faithful 
follower to order supper, and apartments for the happy pair. On reach- 
ing the inn, all was in full preparation ; and while the travellers are 
repairing the toilet damages incident to a hurried journey, and the 
waiter is laying the cloth, I'll tell the reader, and in a few words, who 
were this amorous couple. 

The gallant captain was a younger scion of the O'Boylesof Cloona- 
muddagh. Theirs was an ancient lineage — and they once possessed 
extensive estates. From time to time, the property had been gradually 
disposed of; and the lands now attached to the lordship of Cloona- 
muddagh were much broader than productive. For four generations, a 
pack of fox-hounds and an open house had kept the owner, for the time 
being, in constant trouble — and a contested election, in which the present 
proprietor had nearly proved successful', relieved the aspirant after par- 
liamentary honours from the trouble of receiving his rents — the Lord 
Chancellor having very kindly obliged him with a deputy. Fitz, the 
third son of this last gentleman, was a stout soldier and a steady friend — 
rather inclined to quarrel in his own person, but a man who delighted 
to accommodate the differences of others — a task in which he had 
been eminently successful. His face was truly Milesian — his figure 
unobjectionable for a flanker — his address easy and assured — his age 
verging upon twenty-seven. Wherever he went, the women hailed his 
advent — while the men read with undisguised satisfaction the name of 
Captain Fitzgerald O'Boyle, in the list of fashionable departures. It 
was said that the gallant Captain was rather successful with the softer 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 43 

sex — indeed, that he was a sort of Hibernian Caesar who conquered when 
he came — at sight. 

" And now, my dear Fitz," I said, as he returned to the supper-room, 
" will you let me know who my pretty daughter is ?" 

" Faith ! and that's the least I can do for your civility in adopting 
her,'' replied Captain O'Boyle. 

" I need not tell you, my dear Hector," he continued, " that so long 
as I can remember anything, we were always tight up at Cloonamud- 
dagh — and the worst was, we had no means of pulling in. To break 
up the kennel, would have broken my father's heart ; and the ceade 
fealteeagh * that for three centuries opened the house to every devil from 
the corners of the earth, who chose to drop in with a ' God save all here,' 
was not, as you know, in Ireland to be interrupted. That infernel elec- 
tion, however, was a regular wind-up. Only for it, we might have 
gone on ' cooling and supping ' as they say, and by robbing Peter to 
pay Paul, kept the hall-door open ; but down came a Chancery decree — 
the estates were put under a receiver — and the consequence was, that 
we were ruined teetotally. 

• " I was going down to Greenwood and Cox's to draw a trifle I had 
there, when who should I meet in the Strand but Matt Fortescue. 
Being both of us in trouble, we dropped naturally enough into the Ship 
for mutual consolation." 

" ' You heard, Matt,' said I, ' of the receiver V 

" ' And you heard, Naty,' said he in return, ' of my affliction V 

" * I read it in the Times,' says I. Now Matt's wife, a draper's 
widow, whom he had picked up ten years before in Brighton, had 
slipped her cable suddenly ; and as her jointure went along with her, 
she was very sincerely lamented. 

" ' I moved,' said Matt, ' from private lodgings in Margate into a 
boarding-house to drown sorrow in society — and faith ! I think I could 
have replaced my irreparable loss, only that poor, dear, lamented Mrs. 
F — , is only sodded a week yestei'day.' 

" ' And who may be the lady V I inquired. 

" ' Oh ! a widow,' says he, ' they're the safest by far, as ye can 
before you come to house-keeping, know all about them for a shilling 
at Doctor's Commons.' 

" ' Well, Matt, you must only lie by until a decent period to in- 
dulge in sorrow has elapsed.' 

" ' Arrah, my dear fellow !' returned the afflicted widower, ' Mrs. 
Boothby, as they call her, will never hold out another month. Why 
she's only there a couple of days, and she is already making eyes at a 
swell-mob-looking fellow across the table. But is it not a melancholy 
thing to see a middle-aged gentlewoman, with eight hundred a year, 
going to throw herself away upon a lisping cockney, who, as they tell 
me, manufactures marking ink V 

" ' Very sad, indeed,' I replied. ' I suppose that a long period of 
bereavement has at last subdued her sorrow for the dear departed. 
Who was he, Matt ?' 

" ' The devil — Christ pardon us for calling a dead man out of his 
* Hundred welcomes. 



44 HILL-SroE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

name ! — ^kept a cake shop in the Minories, and he was planted a couple 
of months ago. Would you be inclined to put your comether* on the 
widow V . 

" ' And become successor to a pastry-cook, and serve tarts, I sup- 
pose, across the counter ! No, no, my dear Matt. Bad as matters are 
at Cloonamuddagh, they never could stand lollypops and spiced ginger- 
bread.' 

" ' Oh, murder !•' exclaimed Fortescue. ' She'll drop into the hands 
of one of the most superlative snobs that ever set foot in a Margate 
steamer. But, come down. What between cliff walks, and St. Peter's 
Gardens, we'll get over a week or two. Meet me in the morning at 
London Bridge ; and who knows what luck's before us ? And may 
be, after all, the devil would stand our friend.' 

" In this pious reliance Mr. Fortescue took his leave, and I promised 
to be punctual and meet him at the wharf. True to my appointment^ 
I was at the bridge in good time — and forthwith embarked my persoo 
among a crowd of snobbish men and noisy women. 

" While Matt was carefully inspecting every female passenger on 
whose garments he could detect an inch of crape, I had discovered an 
interesting girl seated hear the wheel, engaged in netting a silk purse, 
and apart from all the company. Struck with her appearance, I took 
a vacant seat beside her, and an accidental civility in picking up her 
reticule afforded an opportunity of entering into conversation. As I 
had suspected, she was voyaging alone to join her aunt at Ramsgate ; 
a cousin who had promised to escort her down the river, having been 
suddenly obliged by urgent business to forego the anticipated pleasure. 

" I found her artleSs and conversable ; and I flatter myself that she 
felt that she had a gentleman beside her, and accordingly availed her- 
self of my protection. I conducted her to the saloon when dinner was 
announced ; and, as young men in want of a situation express it in 
the ' Times,' made myself ' generally useful.' Nor was honest Matt,. 
to do him justice, throwing time away — for he had commenced the sen- 
timental with a stout gentlewoman in second mourning, whom, Heaven 
knows how, he had discovered to be the relict of a West End boot- 
maker who had kicked the bucket a twelvemonth back, leaving to the 
fair and fat one an easy independence, the stock in trade, and a house 
at Putney. 

" But this was not the only information that Mr. Fortescue had 
managed to pick up ; for afler dinner, when we had resumed our seats 
on deck, Matt whispered in my ear, 

" ' By the powers of pewter ! Hector, jewel, you have the biggest 
heiress between this and Ramsgate at your side. Don't spare soft 
solder for the love of God ! The Loi-d be praised ! — I'm doing pretty 
well myself, and with the assistance of the Blessed Virgin, I'll change 
Mother Gilbert's name to Fortescue within a fortnight.' 

" When we ranged along the pier at Ramsgate, upon my soul ! I 

was over head and ears in love, and I had a shrewd suspicion that my 

little civilities had not failed in making a favourable impression. As 

the evening was fine, Ramsgate had poured forth its cockney popula- 

* An Irish expression, meaning to gain the affections of a lady. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 45 

tion — and conspicuous above the crowd, appeared a portly gentlewoman 
with a brace of cocked-hatted attendants at her side, whom the pretty 
companion of my voyage apprized me was her honoured aunt — to wit, 
the Lady Mayoress. 

" I won't detain you, iny dear Hector, with my course of love ; but 
harp-lessons, libraries, and donkey-riding gave me the necessary oppor- 
tunities of pressing my suit in secret. From some unknown cause, my 
lady-aunt took alarm. Maria was the jiancee of her only son, and by 
a union of the cousins, the wealth of both families would be concen- 
trated. Hitherto, the foir orphan had heard that such an alliance was 
contemplated with indifference ; but now, to make assurance doubly 
sure, preparations in the shape of settlements were commenced, and an 
early day was named for the celebration of the marriage. But another 
spirit had come over the young lady's dream — and for the first time she 
demurred to the arrangements, and s/.eadily objected to immediate 
matrimony. The Lady Mayoress pressed her wishes with more zeal 
than discretion, while I urged disobedience with better taste and more 
effect. Love eventually came off triumphant — and hei-e we are, my 
dear father and quondam comrade, securely riveted, after leaving 
Ramsgate in an uproar, and as I suppose, placing the Mansion House 
in a state of mourning." 

As he ended his narrative, the fair fugitive appeared, supper was 
served ; and as wayfarers require rest, we retired at an early hour. In 
an hour, the inn was silent as La Trappe ; the travellers no doubt were 
sleeping, or, at least they ought to have been so. My dreams were 
piscatorial — and, in fancy, I was again engaged with my successful 
antagonist, who had left me lamenting at the bridge. I slept soundly, 
and was in the very act of landing the exhausted salmon, when the 
opening of my chamber door, and the flash of candles through the cur- 
tains dispelled my dreams, and in marvellous surprise, I started bolt 
upright in the bed — for the room was filled with company. 

" I demand my disobedient niece," exclaimed a stout gentlewoman, 
in a purple pelisse and a towering passion. 

" Give up my misguided ward," continued a very apoplectic-look- 
ing personage with a pursy voice. 

" And I insist upon having my affianced wife, instanter," screamed 
a lean young man, who seemed tolerably well advanced in a galloping 
consumption. 

" And where the devil am I to find misguided wai'ds and disobedient 
nieces ?" I furiously returned. 

" Oh ! you wicked middle-aged man," roared the stout gentle- 
woman ; " to run away with — " 

" I deny the charge, Madam, I was the person ran away with. A 
malicious-minded salmon carried my casting line over a dam-head, and 
took a vagabond called Clancy, through the King's gap, I suppose to 
keep it company." 

" And are you not married ?" continued the lady in the purple 
pelisse. 

" I am not, Madam ; and if you have any thing matrimonial to pro- 



46 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

pose, I would hint that the drawing-room would be the discreeter place- 
wherein to make your hymeneal overtures." 

Now, profiting by the delay which the waiter had dexterously occa- 
sioned, by misdirecting the midnight intruders, and sending them into 
an apartment that was not the right one, Captain O'Boyle had time to 
make a hurried toilet, and finding that his citadel would be immediately 
assailed, like an able General, he determined to anticipate the attack. 
Arrayed in dressing-gown and slippers, and with a bed-room candle in 
his hand, with matchless effrontery he glided into my chamber, and 
innocently inquired the reason : " Why his bride should be alarmed^ 
and his own repose interrupted at this unseasonable hour ?" In a 
moment, the lady recognized him as the real Simon Pure, and a 
desperate melee of " question fierce, and proud reply," followed. The 
lady stormed : the younger gentleman swore he would dissolve the 
marriage ; and the older inquired, whether Captain O'Boyle would 
ever venture to appear in London after insulting its authorities in, his 
person, and also begged to know in what way he, the said Captain, 
intended to satisfy the Lord Chancellor ? Captain O'Boyle, in return,, 
passed the lady by in silence, called Mr. Theodore Figgins a snob, con- 
signed the Corporation, root and branch, to Pandemonium, and expressed 
his readiness to give satisfaction to the Keeper of the Great Seal, 
wherever and whenever the occupant of the woolsack should demand 
it. I took advantage of a lull — and being altogetlier innocent in alF 
matters touching the abduction of the heiress, requested and obtained an 
audience. 

" My good people, as a person altogether disinterested, will you fa- 
vour me for a few minutes with a hearing ? Without discussing the 
indiscretion of the young lady, or the impudence of that bashful gentle- 
man with the bed-room candlestick in his hand, I must state, as an eye- 
witness, that the ceremony has been legally performed — that the par- 
lies are living under this roof as man and wife — that death alone can- 
sever the existing union, and, in a word, the mischief is completed. I 
have reason to believe that, between the fair fugitive and her husband, 
in point of wealth, there is a marked disparity upon his side. As a 
gentleman, none can moot Captain O'Boyle's claims to that title, if an 
ancient lineage, and an honourable career in arms, are held sulBcient. 
Nay, permit me to go farther — the proudest lady in the land need not 
blush to rest upon the arm of a man who crowned the breach at Rodrigo, 
and tried the temper of Irish steel with the Imperial Guard at Fuentes. 
Let me act, on this occasion, the part of a mediator. In that sweet 
face," and I looked at Mrs. Figgins, who had once been a city belle, 
" I see beauty and beneficence con^bined. She would pardon, rather 
than upbraid ; and would she but retire to the bridal-chamber, I am 
sure the crime of love would have only to be confessed and forgiven." 

After a little demur, the Lady Mayoress assented, and even accept- 
ed the escort of the abductor of her niece. 

" And now, gentlemen," I continued, addressing myself to the 
Avorthy Alderman and his heir apparent, " no doubt a long and rapid 
journey, such as you have just performed, has been attended with per- 
sonal inconvenience — " 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES 47 

" Inconvenince !" exclaimed the ruler of the modern Babylon, 
" nothing for six and thirty hours but hurry-skurry. Not a regular 
meal — not one moment allowed to promote digestion, since we quitted 
the stones ! What I ate, where I ate, and when I ate, I could not pre- 
tend to guess." 

And the Alderman sighed bitterly. 

" Rem acu," I observed, " the very butt I aimed at. In this house 
— I declare it on the word of a Christian man, and also a Companion 
of the Bath — they are unrivalled at salmon-cutlets and brandered 
chickens. They have a fish at present in the larder, that at twilight 
was disporting in the Tweed ; and if you will allow me the honour of 
presiding for this night, I will forfeit a quarter's half-pay, if I do not 
parade a supper worthy even of a Lord Mayor himself." 

My invitation was gratefully accepted. I made a hasty toilet, and 
reached the eating-room in time to receive Mrs. Figgins, who confessed 
that Maria's tears had conquered, and that the fugitives were forgiven. 

After breakfast next morning — at which the happy couple appeared, 
and where their pardon was duly ratified — while the carriage was 
being brought round, the Alderman called the gallant Captain to the 
window : 

" You gentlemen of the sword," he said, addressing my bashful 
camarado, " are generally warmer in the heart than in the pocket. 
This," and he placed a cheque for £.500 in the Captain's hand, " is a 
trifle for a tour. Don't return to town until this nine days' wonder has 
blown over. I shall be laughed at, I expect, for letting £80,000 slip 
from my family. But no mattei* — Theodore will have enough without 
it. And as the prize was fated to pass to a stranger, I rejoice that a 
stout soldier was the winner." 

The carriage came round : the Figgins family departed. As the 
day was dark and breezy, Mr. Cla;ncy was in attendance. Leaving 
the happy fugitives to bill and coo, I headed, with my swarthy com- 
panion, to " silver Tweed," marvelling at the singular luck by which 
an Irish gentleman, quocunque jeceris, manages to drop upon his legs ! 

On my retui'n with a fresh-run salmon, and a creel of trouts, a note 
from my loving countryman intimated that he had started to visit " fair 
Melease " with his blooming bride. 



CHAPTER VII. 

LEGEND OF NOEHAM KIRK-YARD. 



Within the range of the antiquated artillery which had once armed 
the mouldering walls of Norham Castle, the remains of a large mansion- 
house may yet be traced — for being built chiefly of the ashlers taken 
from the dismantled fortress from their size and the solidity of the build- 
ing, they have partially resisted the hand of time. The appearance of 
the house has been forgotten — but tradition says that it was erected on 
a scale much too extensive for the resources of the founder ; and with 



48 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

profuse hospitality and a fancy for dabbling with politics — at that time 
a matter more unsafe and expensive than at present — ^the ruin of Ralph 
Fenwick had been effected. Certain it is, that being out in " the forty- 
five " added to his activity in " the fifteen," drew down such fines and 
forfeitures, that the last remnant of his lands, and the very roof that 
sheltered him, passed consequently, into the hands of a stranger, — and 
no one at the time knew whom. 

Fenwick had an only child — a daughter named Helen — as remark- 
able for her personal beauty, as for a bold and masculine spirit. She 
had unfortunately lost her mother when an infant, and a temper that re- 
quired maternal control to have checked its violence in early youth, 
through the ill-judging indulgence of a fond father, was suffered to run 
riot, and become at last irreclaimable. At the time that her father's 
ruin was consummated, Helen Fenwick was only twenty-two, — but 
handsome as she was, she still remained unwedded. It was said that 
none had sought her hand save one — he was a cadet of a noble house — 
a title since attainted ; and having been out with the young Chevalier, 
he was obliged to quit the kingdom, and enter a foreign service, where 
rumour asserted he had perished on the field. Helen Fenwick loved 
young Morton with an ardour that might be well imagined in one afflict- 
ed with a wild and impetuous spirit like her own ; and when tidings of 
her lover's death reached the Border, she put on mourning, and swore 
secretly that her heart should never be transferred to another. 

It was late in the evening, and snow was falling fast, when the ru- 
ined laird, and her who might be termed a widowed daughter, were seat- 
ed at either side of a blazing wood fire, on which both gazed in listless 
but melancholy silence. News had arrived that day, in the slow course 
with which intelligence then reached the Tweed-side from London, that 
the purchaser of Fenwick's property would speedily arrive to claim and 
take possession. The old Borderer poured the remainder of a flask of 
red wine into his goblet — drained it to the bottom — and with a heavy 
sigh expressed curiosity to know to whom his property had passed. 

" That you'll know over soon, I fancy," replied his daughter, as she 
raised her eyes from the blazing logs, and cast a mingled look of pity 
and reproach upon him, whose improvidence and folly had entailed pov- 
erty upon both. 

At that moment, the tramp of horses' feet was heard without — and 
presently, the only male attendant of a once large establishment entered 
the chamber to announce that a stranger had arrived, and required a 
night's lodging. 

" It is the last which Ralph Fenwick will have it in his power to be- 
stow, and say that he is welcome." 

" He is not welcome !" exclaimed his fiery daughter. " Say that 
the family are not inclined to receive company at present. There is a 
change-house at Norham — and the ride is but half a mile." 

While these contradictory orders were being delivered, the stranger, 
who seemed to stand on scanty ceremony, had followed the domestic, and 
was standing in the doorway ; and now advancing with assurance to 
the fire, he exclaimed, as he coolly shook the snow from his riding 
cloak, 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 49 

" Gramercy ! fair lady, for your kind advice, which I pray your 
excuse for not following, notwithstanding. A man who finds himself in 
his own hall on a snowy night, methinks, would show but little wit to 
leave it in the dark to seek a strange hostelrie." 

The eyes of the father and daughter were instantly turned on the 
intruder ; and while Fenwick gazed on the new proprietor with a sub- 
dued look, Helen's darkened glance ran over the stranger from head to 
foot with haughty indifference. All unabashed with his cold reception, 
the wayfarer removed his slouched hat, hung his cloak quietly on a 
peg, drew a chair before the fire, and having seated himself, he stretched 
his heavy riding boots towards the hearth, like a man determined not 
only to make himself perfectly at home, but also to afford ample op- 
portunity to any one who felt inclined to make a personal investigation 
of his outer man. 

The appearance of the stranger was not particularly favourable. 
He was a stout, clumsy, vulgar style of man, with a common-place 
face, bronzed by exposure to a tropic sun, and pitted deeply with pock- 
marks. His age might be sixty, or probably a year or two beyond it. 
His manners were coarse, his bearing rude, and his ease unlike that of 
a man of gentle birth. 

"Helen," said the ruined laird, "get supper and a flask of wine — 
and see that a chamber be prepared for this gentleman." 

" We must do so, I presume," was the lady's uncourteous answer. 
" It shall be done, father, but with a sorry welcome." 

" Nay," said the stranger, as he laid his hand upon the fair one's 
arm, when she rose to execute her parent's order. " By the mass ! a 
strapping wench. Muster thy good humour, lassie. A house, you 
know, will need a mistress — and who can say but I might wive thee as 
well as another." 

" Wife !" she repeated with a laugh of scorn, as she flung his arm 
aside. "An thou wert better-favoured, and I lacked a grandsire, I 
might choose thee, possibly. But, God's mercy ! a wife ! Ha ! ha ! 
ha ! I cannot forbear a laugh when I hear an old man speak such 
folly !" and so saying she hurried from the room. 

The purchaser of Fenwick's forfeited estate called himself Hugh 
Robson. His extraction was the humblest. His father had been a 
tailor, and he himself saw the light first in the garret of a mean house 
in one of the overcrowded alleys of ancient London. He was a wild 
and profligate youth — and l)efore he reached sixteen, had several times 
been in the hands of justice. The probability is strong, that his career 
would have been briefly and disgracefully closed, had not accident in- 
terposed between him and the gallows. He was kidnapped — then a 
common-place occurrence — and sent to the plantations. There he be- 
came a slave-driver, buccaneered a little, and at last managed to induce 
a planter's widow to marry him, and through her became a man of 
property. On her decease, he sold the slaves and plantation, and returned 
with the money he had thus realized to England. Such was the per- 
sonage who had claimed the hospitality of the unthrifty Borderer, and 
received such welcome as we have described. 

A few days passed. Ralph Fenwick's affairs were wound up ; and 

4 



50 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

it was ascertained that he was reduced to abject poverty. The springs 
of human action are at times incomprehensible. From the moment 
that Robson had seen the haughty beauty, he determined that she should 
become his wife ; and, strange as it may appear, her scorn and con- 
tempt served but to confirm his resolution. In his own rude manner, 
he urged his suit — the inducement being a liberal settlement. The 
offer was disdainfully rejected. He spoke to Helen's father — proposed 
to place him in his alienated property for life ; and, to a ruined man, 
held out such powerful considerations to enlist his mediation, that with 
Fenwick he perfectly succeeded. What could have been his object in ob- 
taining the hand of a woman who evidently despised him, remains a 
mystery. Could it be that he was ambitious of mingling the puddle in 
his own veins with the red blood of the Border; or, from a mere per- 
versify of will, overcome an opposition to wishes which he had secretly 
determined should be gratified ? Whatever was the influencing motive, 
Hugh Robson persevered — and he succeeded. 

The night before Helen gave a reluctant consent, old Mabel, her 
nurse, was closeted with her young mistress. 

" Tak him, my bonny child. Your lover's in a bluidy grave, and 
a' will come round again wi' yer feyther. The ill-faced carl canna 
ootlast twa or three years at maist. His heart's burned up in the In- 
dies ; and when he dees, ye'll be but a youthfu' widda ; and wi' broad 
lands and muckle siller, ye may ha' thebrawest lad upon the Border." 

Whether parental affection, or the prospect of an early widowhood 
and jointured lands prevailed, Helen Fenwick consented to accept a 
man she not only despised, but hated. 

On the morning her assent was formally given to this infelicitous 
union, Robson and her father waited her decision in the hall. With a 
haughty step she entered the apartment, and advancing towards the 
bridegroom in expectancy, she thus addressed him : 

" I am come," she said, " to signify my consent, but I will at the 
same time deal candidly with you. My heart is sleeping in the grave 
with the only man I loved ; but had it never warmed for another, to 
you it should be dead. Now, thus forewarned, are you desirous to ob- 
tain this hand ?" 

The infatuated man muttered an assent. 

" Then in the devil's name be it yours !" and flinging it to him, she 
continued : " The bargain is complete, and the sooner the lawyer and 
priest enact their parts, the better." 

So saying, she hurried from the room. 

Never was a union more ominously contracted — for an impending 
storm burst at the very moment she named the enemy of man, and a 
thunderbolt struck a chimney from the mansion. The settlements were 
drawn up, the ceremonial was performed, and Helen, nominally, be- 
came a wife. Instead of responding to the ritual, in which love and 
obedience were demanded of her, she answered with a haughty bow ; 
and ere the first week had passed over, she insisted on occupying a sep- 
arate apartment. 

Calamity followed fast upon this unholy marriage. The moon, 
surnamed the honey one, " had not yet filled her horns," when in at- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 5J^ 

tempting to cross the Tweed when flooded, her father and the horse he 
rode, were swept down the angry stream and perished in her sight. 
Had her hand been sacrificed on his account, it now was unavailing. 
Possibly sh'e thought so, and felt her association with Robson more in- 
tolerable than before. She wedded — a union it could not be called — 
for save when they met at table, they lived as much apart as before the 
mockery of marriage had been undergone. 

Two circumstances were mortifying to Hugh Robson. Like most 
men who spring into unexpected wealth, he was desirous to found a 
family, and leave a male heir behind him ; but the unnatural terms on 
which he and his wayward lady lived, forbade that hope entirely. The 
other cause of annoyance was wounded pride. He was richer than 
any of the neighbouring gentlemen by far, and solicitous to display his 
wealth, and exhibit his hospitality ; but under one plea or other, his en- 
tertainments were but thinly attended — while several of the old Border 
families declined visiting him altogether. These matters added fuel to 
the fire at home; his wife in. name, grew daily more intractable — his 
caresses were repulsed with loathing — his enti'eaties were heard with a 
cold ear — until at last, a naturally bad temper, brutalized afterwards 
by a long familiarity with the heartless cruelty he had resorted to when 
a negro-driver, led him in a fit of passion to threaten his wayward 
wife with personal chastisement. But little did he yet know the in- 
domitable spirit he had to deal with, for ere the words had passed his 
lips, Helen sprang from the chair she sat on, and fearlessly crossed 
the apartment to the place he stood. 

" Villain !" she cried, " that threat alone was wanting to place thy 
character in its true light. What ! and thou wouldst flog me, God 
sooth ! as thou erstwhile flayed thy blacks. See ye that hand ?" and she 
extended her finely-rounded arm, until her fingers had nearly met his. 
" Touch but that hand, and by every hope I hold of Heaven, I'll sheath 
this dagger in your heart." 

Robson was brutal, cruel, and daring, but not brave ; and the glit- 
tering poniard she had plucked from her bosom, but still more her 
excited attitude and flashing eyes, terrified the quondam slave-driver. 
The challenged pressure of her hand was not accepted — and after 
standing a minute with an arm extended in the fixed attitude of a statue, 
she coolly replaced the dagger in her breast, and turning away in con- 
temptuous silence, left the hall. 

A week elapsed, and to every request to join the board at dinner- 
hour, a contemptuous refusal had been returned — but on the eighth 
evening, an incident occurred which brought on a domestic tragedy. 
At night-fall, a stranger and his groom stopped at the hall, and 
knocking at the door, requested hospitality. Right willingly Hugh 
Robson proceeded to welcome the unknown guest, while he despatched 
a female servant to his refractory wife, to announce the unexpected 
arrival, and for that night only, he implored her to grace the supper- 
table with her presence. 

" Tell him," said she, " that we never sit at the same board ; that — 
but hold ! a sudden impulse urges me. I will accept the invitation, ay^ 



52 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

were it to be the last one. Tell Janet to come here — I must needs, 
God sooth ! to mend my dress a little." 

In five minutes the tire-woman appeared, and with the liberty which 
a favourite domestic will occasionally assume, she insisted on a total 
alteration in the toilet. 

" May I never be married — and Heaven knows, unless it were a 
happier one than thine, lady, I would pray that I should die unwedded 
— the noblest stranger I have looked on for many a day is standing at 
the hall fire." 

" What looks he, Janet ?" 

" A soldier, and a bold one," was the maid's reply. 

" His age, girl ?" 

" Thirty, in appearance ; but, as I think, in reality five years 
younger," said the attendant. 

" Is he tall or short ?" 

" He stands a full head over Mr. Robson." 

" Pish ! name him not; describe the stranger." 

" Tall, slight, sinewy ; eyes and hair jet black, an arching brow, 
a thin moustache, teeth white as . pearl, and the deepest voice I ever 
listened to, and, yet the while, a sweet one," returned the tire-woman. 

" Could the grave give up its dead, I would say that it was 
Reginald himself. Oh, no, no ! death's harvest is always safely 
gathered in, and he whom I only loved, or ever could love, is sleeping 
in unbroken rest. Were it only to recall the memory of the dead by 
the similitude of the living, I will to the hall — ay, and tire me bravely ; 
I would look well even to him who bore the slightest semblance 
to Reginald Morton." 

Arrayed in a rich deep mourning-dress, which best becomes a fine 
woman as men say, the lady descended to the hall. The door was 
open, and the stranger was standing before the fire with his back 
turned to the entrance. He seemed buried in deep thought, for the 
rustling of the lady's silken robe did not attract his notice until, when 
within a yard or two, she pronounced the customary words of welcome. 
The stranger started, and turned round. Saints and devils ! it was not 
a mere semblance of the long lost lover — but Reginald Morton himself! 

Wonder and shame struck the proud lady dumb, and the stranger 
preserved a contemptuous silence. At this embarrassing moment, 
Robson suddenly returned. 

" I pray thee, fair sir," he said, hurriedly, " to excuse me for some 
ten minutes. A messenger from Edinburgh has brought me an 
important paper, which must be signed and delivered in the court there 
before noon to-morrow. I leave thee to the care of my lady wife. 
Helen, the gentleman will find yon flask of Burgundy indifferent good. 
Pledge his good health till I return." 

He said, and was hastily leaving the chamber, when in passing a 
huge deer-hound of uncommon beauty that belonged to the stranger, 
Robson placed his hand on the dog's head. A sudden snap betrayed 
the hound's displeasure. 

" Confound thee !" exclaimed the host ; " thy teeth are sharp ones," 
and he hastened from the hall. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDEJR, SKETCHES. 53 

" And art thou living, Reginald ?" were the first words the humbled 
beauty uttered. 

" As certainly alive, as thou art a lady wife," and the reply was 
ironically delivered. 

" Reginald !" returned the dame in a subdued voice, " they said 
that thou hadst fallen on the battle-field, and I mourned for thee." 

" Until another came to comfort thee. Gad's life ! I cannot 
compliment thee honestly on thy selection, Helen. I marvel no more 
that woman's fancies have been ever held unaccountable. Why thou 
hast mated with one whom poor Kilbuck there," and he pointed to the 
deer-hound, " disdained to make acquaintance with." 

On hearing his own name pronounced, the dog approached his 
master, and laid his wiry muzzle on his hand. 

" Ay, honest Kilbuck, were I away a century, and thou couldst live 
so long, did I return, I would find ihee faithful." 

" Reginald !" exclaimed the lady, as tears rolled down her cheeks, 
" if thou wouldst kill me, use daggers, but don't speak them !" and she 
took the stranger's hand, who passively allowed it to remain in the 
grasp of her whom he had once loved so faithfully, and muttered thus : 

" And was it for this that Reginald Morton's steed was foremost in 
the charge ? Ay, he wanted fame, to share it with her from whom for- 
tune for a time had parted him. Was it for this he crowned the breach 
at Breda ? He wanted wealth, and the heavy purse of gold that reward- 
ed the boldest adventurer was given him. Was it for this, when fame 
was won and name had been acquired, he overcame his dislike to the 
reigning dynasty, and accepted a command from the house of Hanover ? 
Helen, 1 am master of five hundred golden coins. Not one of them was 
earned but with the red blood of these veins. I have won a name, and 
thou shouldst have shared it. Had I found thee destitute, I would have 
clasped thee closer to my heart ; ay, even hadst thou been honestly 
widowed, former love might have pleaded in thy favour, and even in 
that case, I might have made thee mine. But wedding as thou didst — 
mating with yon chui'l, for dross, mere dross — oh ! 'tis disgusting ! 
But no more, my say is said ; I came only to tell thee, that whilst thou 
wert false, that I was faithful. Fare thee well, Helen, mayst thou be 
happier than I." 

" Thou wouldst not go !" exclaimed the lady, passionately. " What, 
depart without rest or food ?" 

" Food !" said the stranger, and his dark moustache curled in con- 
tempt. " Sit at the same board, and eat the bread of Helen Fenwick's 
lord. By the true Lord, the first morsel would choke me dead ! But, 
lady, I will not leave thee uncourteously," he said, and approached the 
table, filled a goblet to the brim with Burgundy, pledged health and 
happiness to the dame, and drained it to the bottom. 

" And now, honest Kilbuck, we will wend our way, as we have 
done for years, together. I would not touch thy lips, Helen — the carl's 
mayhap had pressed them ere I entered. I'll wring the hand that once 
was pledged to me — and now God sain thee !" 

Fixed in the attitude of mute despair — incapable of motion as the 
marble effigy which decks some royal tomb — Helen saw him whom she 



54 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

only loved depart, and made no effort to detain him. She listened as 
the hall-door closed — she heard horse-tramps pass the window. " He 
is gone !" was her only remark, and taking a taper from the side-board 
she left the hall. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Great was Mr. Robson's astonishment and dismay, when on des- 
patching the courier and his despatches, he -found a deserted chamber, 
and stranger, dog, and mistress gone. Besides a lost guest and a levant- 
ed lady, he had, however, other causes for uneasiness. The hound's 
teeth had penetrated his finger till they met — and in the vulgar belief 
of the day, he dreaded should the dog at any future time be rabid, that, 
as a matter of course, he too, would madden. He sought to learn the 
cause of this sudden departure, but the anxious inquiries he addressed 
through her tire-woman, were answered very unsatisfactorily ; and 
were, at last, concluded by an imperious order, that no farther messages 
should be sent her — she waved her hand — desired to be left alone till 
morning — the attendant obeyed the order — the chamber door was lock- 
ed — and the proud and wretched dame was left to commune with her- 
self. 

" And is he, indeed, living ?" she said, as she paced the chamber. 
" Ay ! living as certain as I am wedded. And he won gold for me — 
gold, with his own red blood. He won glory on the battle-field, and 
he would have shared it with me. Were I in poverty, he would have 
sheltered me in his bosom, and I believe him. Had I been widowed — 
honestly, he added — early love would have pleaded in extenuation 
for—" 

She stopped suddenly — the devil suggested the thought — her brows 
contracted till they met. 

" Ha ! Reginald ! thou shalt yet be wedded to the widow !" 

* * * ^! * 

The age of superstition was not yet over, and many a trace of old 
and contemptible fancies still remained among the Borderers. One pre- 
valent belief was, that certain diseases might be remedied or averted 
by spells and planetary influence. The terrible effects which too fre- 
quently follow the bite of a rabid dog, were among those that were 
considered thus curable ; and while the only means which reason and 
experience point out were neglected, namely, excision with the knife 
or cautery immediately applied, charms were foolishly resorted to ; 
and, of course, if the poison had been communicated, the patient fell a 
sacrifice to popular fallacy. Mr. Robson's accident was bruited over 
the country — and a mysterious colouring was thrown over the unfor- 
tunate transaction by the sudden disappearance of the dog who had 
inflicted the bite, and the personage who owned him. 

In the application of supernatural agencies to remedy human 
diseases, a beldame, named Meg Gormly, was reputed to be eminently 
skilful, and Robson was easily prevailed upon to send for and consult 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 55 

her. Ruined as the Fenvvick family had been, they still were held in 
honourable recollection ; and when wealth, acquired by her unhappy 
alliance, had enabled her to accomplish it, a number of retainers whom 
the altered fortunes of her father had thrown on the world to shift as 
they best could, were again taken into service by the daughter of the 
deceased Jacobite. The whole of the establishment were the fosterers 
and followers of the old house — and among them, Robson was looked 
upon as an intruder — while a whispered wish of his haughty lady 
would have commanded their devoted obedience. 

That Meg Gormly had been summoned was instantly communi- 
cated to Robson's lady — and an order was issued that the old woman 
on her arrival, should be first introduced to herself, before she saw the 
patient. It was done ; and in the haze of an autumnal evening, the 
wise-woman was conducted to the lady's private chambers. The 
figures, but not the faces of the sorceress and Robson's wife were 
visible. 

" Is the door closed ?" was the opening question. 

" It is, noble dame," was the reply. 

" Then step forward, and stand between me and the oriel." 

Meg Gormly obeyed an order she felt to be imperious, and placed 
herself between the lady and the window. 

" Is thy memory good ?" 

" Thank God, sight and sense fail me not," said the person thus 
addressed. 

" Then thou canst possibly remember, some ten years syne, when 
the stupid villagers had set thee to swim within a horsepond for a 
witch, and when thou wert half drowned — couldst thou recall to memory 
the name of him who saved thee from the rabble, and had thee restored 
to life ?" 

" Right weel, lady ; quiet to his ashes ! It was thihe honoured 
father." 

" And wouldst thou repay life preserved ?" 

" Ay, marry, would I ; and that right willingly." 

" My Lord — pish ! — he, I mean, to whom I am wedded, is bitten 
by a dog. They fear the beast was rabid." 

" Oh, then, honoured lady, can I not give thee comfort ! I am here 
the messenger of blessed news. But yesterday, when returning from 
the moors, on a lonely hill-path which leads amongst the Cheviots, and 
is never ridden but by sportsmen, and in auld lang syne by better men, 
I mean the moss-troopers, I encountered a young gallant. His pre- 
sence was right noble; his horse would- cost a hundred crowns ; but 
the noblest beast I ever looked upon, was the deer-hound that trotted 
by his side. As he rode up I asked a charity ; he reined his courser 
up, flung me a tester ; but the best news is to come — his was the hound 
that bit your noble lord, and Avhile he searched his pouch for the piece 
o' siller, the gallant hound walked into the pool, lapped the water plen- 
tifully, and then rowed himself in the burnie until his vara ears were 
wetted. No fear 0' him, I trow : the dog's as sound a dog as ony in 
wide Britain. Is na' that blythe news, leddy ?" 

*' No ; by the God of Heaven ! the worst I have heard since ru- 



56 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

mour brought to the Border the death of Reginald Morton. Hark ye, 
woman, these rooms are quiet, but this closet is still more secure. Fol- 
low me," she said ; and led the way. 

The room was small and dark ; evening had totally closed in ; and 
the time, the place, the light, were in good keeping with the interview 
that followed. The door was scarcely closed, until the fiery descend- 
ant of a fiery race, rushed to the all-engrossing object that occupied 
her mind. 

" Meg Gormly," she commenced. 

" Good, my lady ; I listen with attention." 

" My father saved thee from — " 

" Drooning in a horse-pond,"" said the sybil. 

" His daughter can guerdon thee with what will make thy old age 
comfortable. What would'st thou do to pay the father's debt, and win 
the daughter's gratitude ?" 

" Ony gude service I could render," was the reply. 

" Short then be it. The hound thou met yesterday was mad — re- 
member that ! — rabid mad. The knight called out to thee- to avoid him 
— remember that ! His eyes flashed fire — his tongue was foaming ; 
and when he saw the stream, he would not cross the water, until the 
knight, his master, rode a mile further to the bridge — all these remem- 
ber ! Drop them out by turns to thy patient ; and visit me here 
returning from him. Thou knowest thy course of leech-craft now — 
enough, at least, to guide thee for the present — and more hereafter." 

The old pretender to " arts that none may name," bowed, and was 
departing. 

" Back !" cried the lady, suddenly, " one word before we separate. 
Meg Gormly, my father saved thee from the horse-pond ; — play but the 
daughter false, and may a heavy curse light on the name of Fenwick, 
if Tweed will drown, or faggot burn — thou knowest my meaning ; and 
thy weal or woe rests with thyself And now to thy patient." 

Whether the murderous task thus unexpectedly confided to her 
jumped with her own truculent disposition, gratitude for a rescued life, 
or the prospect of a comfortable provision for old age now fast drawing 
on, whatever the cause was which influenced the foul beldame, Gormly 
entered into the affair left to her sole management with zeal and devil- 
ish ability. With the semblance of quieting her patient's apprehensions, 
she confirmed him in the belief that he had been bitten by a rabid ani- 
mal ; and instead of administering sedatives, she stimulated the doomed 
man to partial insanity, by dispensing irritating drugs in ardent spirits. 
On the third morning after she had commenced her leechcraft, Mr. 
Robson was decidedly attacked with the mania attendant upon drunken- 
ness, called by mediciners, delirium tremens; and it was duly an- 
nounced by Gormly to her employer. Was the hour come for this 
desperate, bad woman to carry out her infernal purpose ? To invade 
the house of life, coolly and advisedly, requires more determination 
than usually is given to individuals, and bold as Helen Fenwick was, 
she hesitated ; but accident removed her scruples, and sealed her hus- 
band's fate. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 57 

Gprmly, from time to time, visited her patroness, and communicated 
the successful progress of his disease. 

, " He is mad — down-right mad — honoured dame ; and might I be 
so forward as to advise one so much abler than mysel', a visit would be 
weel, an' a little show o' grief along wi' it. He winna ken ye, or any 
body, for he's ravin sair." 

" Ha ! by'r lady, well counselled. Come, lead the way, and I will 
follow — forward !" 

When the hag and her infamous employer, entered a chamber pre- 
determined to be that of death, Robson, as his villanous nurse had al- 
ready apprized his wife, was frightfully excited. His mind was wan- 
dering over the past and present ; and* to all the confused ideas which 
racked his burning brain, he gave free utterance. He talked ram- 
blingly of slaves, and whips, and irons ; then, breaking into a wild 
exclamation, he dared any one to prove that his first wife's death was 
caused by strangulation. 

" It's false as hell !" he roared. " Did not the slave doctor attend 
her ? And he said that the marks upon her throat were accidental. 
And I am wived again, it seems. The first wife brought me that with 
which I purchased the second one. Ay, and she looks forward to suc- 
ceed to all — ha ! ha ! ha ! — and mate her with a younger husband ! — 
and buy him, as I bought her. I kept the cards in hand, however — 
and when I can travel to Edinburgh, I'll play a play she little wots of, 
that will leave her the same beggar that I found her. Ha ! ha ! That 
will be glorious revenge : — I won't delay it. Ere a week passes — " 

" Thy place will be with the dead," whispered the now determined 
murderess, as she stooped her head over the delirious wretch, and then 
glided from the chamber. 

Of the Fenwicks who had returned to the mansion of the head of their 
house, when his daughter's marriage with Robson had unexpectedly 
restored the alienated property to its former owner, a natural brother, 
named Francis, was the most remarkable. He was a man who, in early 
life, was distinguished by the soubriquet of Black Frank — a title he had 
acquired from the darkness of his hair, or, as others averred, from the 
ferocity of his disposition. Towards his own family he preserved a 
savage affection ; and bold, ignorant, and unscrupulous, a better tool to 
work an evil purpose could not be found in Britain. Him, the lady of 
Fenwick Hall, summoned to a private interview. He hated Robson, 
whom he considered a usurper of the estates of a name to which he clung 
with devoted fidelity. During the late laird's life. Black Frank had 
discharged an agent's duties, an office he still retained under Robson ; 
but though, from circumstances, he was obliged to eat his bread, from 
his soul he detested his new patron. 

" Frank," said the lady, " sit thee down. But first make fast the 
door : we want no eaves-droppers." 

Fenwick obeyed the order, drew the bolt, and placed himself on a 
stool beside a table, on which a silver cup, filled with claret, was 
standing. 

" I drink to thee," said the lady, as she touched the tankard with her 
lips. 



58 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" And in return, receive my faithful duty, fair dame," and the Bor- 
derer dipped heavily into the red wine, with which he solemnized the 
pledge. 

" Frank," said the lady, " I have but sorry news for thee. He who 
calls himself my lord, hates thee for some secret reason. The night this 
singular occurrence happened in the hall, he told me he had written by 
the messenger to some false knave, his lawyer, to find him another 
steward. I remonstrated — and his reply was short, but intelligent 
enough: ' There be too many Fenwicks in the Hall. Its owner must 
root the vermin out — or gads sooth ! they'll multiply : — rats breed amain, 
you know.' " 

The dark Borderer leapt from his chair, and thrust his hand beneath 
his vest. From the action, it was evident he clutched a dagger; for 
though weapons, openly displayed upon the person, were discouraged 
by the authorities of the day, kw went abroad without carrying some 
dirk or pistol, to which they might have recourse if violence were 
offered. 

" Dog ! exclaimed the dark Fenwick, " by Heaven ! an it cost me 
half an hour's hanging at Carlisle, had I heard the upstart call aught 
that bore our ancient name vermin, I would have repaid the insult with 
six inches of cold steel." 

" Nay, chafe thee not, dear Frank. Oft have I had my feelings 
wounded to the quick ; and quean and beggar, and every epithet of 
disgrace have been heaped upon me. I bore the insult — not on my 
own account — for I would rather seek charity alone in the world than 
eat that maligner's bread. But then how many of my poor kinsmen are 
dependent upon me ; and if I parted from my brutal lord, they would be 
turned out to starve, or beg, or steal ; and on their account I strive to 
bear his contumelious treatment. But to-night, and in his ravings, out 
came a secret he had managed to conceal even when giving loose to 
drunken fury, and loading me with gross abuse. Like thyself^ I too am 
to be discarded." 

" Thou ?" shouted the Borderer. 

" Patience, dear kinsman. Fret not thyself. I shall bear reverse 
of fortune like a Fenwick, and when I am turned from this Hall — " 

" Turned from this Hall ! Never, lady. Ere that day come, the 
steel I feel pressing on my heart shall have found a sheath in Robson's. 
But what means this tale I hear ? Was the hound's tooth poisoned ? Is 
he raving ? Is he mad ?" 

" He is delirious — knows none around him. But Gormly still thinks 
her art will work a cure — and then, thou and I must shift as we best 
can." 

The Borderer's brows united in a scowl. 

" What means," exclaimed the lady suddenly, as if the thought 
struck her for the first time, " the strange stories I have heard in girl- 
hood, that men demented by a dog-bite were smothered to prevent them 
infecting others with their rabies ?" 

Black Frank started ; and a dark, triumphant smile crossed a coun- 
tenance already flushed with rage. 

" Ha !" he exclaimed, " that hint will do. Rest thee at ease, fair 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 59 

kinswoman. Thy tenure of Fenwick Hall is firm as its own founda- 
tion, and that was formed of the best ashlers that Norham Castle could 
.supply the builder with." 

He rose, unlocked the door, and was hurrying out, when the lady 
exclaimed : 

" Stop, Frank ! What means this sudden haste ?" 

" I'll tell thee within an hour, lady," was the hasty reply ; '* a Fen- 
wick acts first, and explains his reasons afterwards," and he rushed 
along the passage until the sound of his footsteps died away in the dis- 
tant corridor. 

It will be necessary to observe here, that the barbarous practice of 
smothering patients suffering from hydrophobia, had, a century or two 
ago, been one of common occurrence in both Scotland and Ireland — and 
that, I believe, within the memory of aged men, these unfortunate vic- 
tims were thus summarily disposed of. That this brutal custom exten- 
sively prevailed at no distant period is certain. It is said that not fifty 
years ao-o, a lad of nervous temperament, whose hand was merely pinched 
by a playful spaniel, had his feelings sufficiently excited to betray some 
alarm and uneasiness which could have been readily removed ; and that 
the noble estates attached to an Irish earldom, reached a former posses- 
sor by a foul murder, safely effected under the plea of hydrophobia. 



CHAPTER IX. 



" Ha !" said the dame, after she had secured the door, and as she 
paced the apartment, " the hint was taken promptly. 'Tis true, Gormly 
mio-ht have worked the matter out ; but, like the Red Kilpatrick, Black 
Frank will ' make it sicker.' I wish the hour were over. Well, 'tis 
but self-preservation after all. Still I feel nervous, and I can't remain 
here alone." And opening the door, she stepped a few paces down the 
corridor, and sounded a silver hand-bell. The summons was promptly 
answered, and her tire-woman — a foster-sister — came into the closet of 
her mistress. 

" Janet," said the lady, " my spirits are depressed ; sit thee down 
and talk to me. Hast thou heard aught aught of my lord's malady ?" 

" As I came hither, dame, I met Meg Gormly in the passage. She 
says that she would not wonder he died ere midnight ; q,nd that .the 
death were marvellously sudden at last." 

The lady, fierce and determined as she was, felt a shuddering sen- 
sation creep over her. 

" Meg," continued the attendant, " is not only a skilful but a consid- 
erate body. She says that Master Robson is so violent that it requires 
strong power to hold him on the bed, ' and as he is ravin' aboot matters 
wane by, which it would na be fit for stranger ears to listen to, she 
brought Black Frank, wi' his brither and twa kinsmen, jist for to help 
her to keep the laird quiet. I met them mounting the turnpike,* the 
back way till his chamber." 

* Winding staircase. 



(,r go HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

-ft! "Wine, girl, quicl< ! fill me a glass of Burgundy," and she pointed 

.'to a sealed flask upon the table. 

The cork was drawn by the tire-woman, the glass filled and offered 

vfi.tb the lady ; she raised it to her lips, and as the wine was drunk, the 
last groan of Hugh Robson was faintly heard from beneath a huge bed 
of feathers by Black Frank and his confederates, who held the matress 
over the doomed wretch with grasp of iron, while Gormly flung herself 
upon the top, and by her weight produced a speedier suffocation. 'Twas 
said he struggled fearfully ; but in five minutes the foul quean announc- 
ed to the assistant murderers that all was quiet below. The bed was 
removed, and there lay the departed slave-driver ; his bloodshot eyes, 
slavering lips, and purpled countenance telling too plainly how fierce the 
struggle was before life had parted. 

" Strake the body, and in wi' the bed into the closet yonder. Wipe 
his mouth dry, and close his een, if possible," said Gormly, with sur- 
passing coolness. " There — stick his head noo abune the pilla, str'aught 
his right leg a bit ; an' doon wi' ye by the back stair, and leave me till 

I gi' the alarm that he's parted in a fit." 

******* 

Never was murder more skilfully and unscrupulously effected. 
Not a suspicion was created — not an inquiry was made. On the morn- 
ing succeeding the assassination, Helen Fenwick, now a widow, departed 
for Edinburgh, deputing to Black Frank the office of committing to the 
tomb him whom he had consigned to it. The death revelry then com- 
mon on the Borders was kept up for three successive nights, — and early 
on the fourth day, the corpse of the murdered man was interred with all 
the pompous parade which marked a burial of the wealthy in the kirk- 
yard. " An','' continued George, " auld Robson's leein' under the vera 
stane yer honour's cockit an." 

" Egad, George, I'll take a new position. I doubt my rear might 
be invaded from below, and — as the fancy say — an unruly ghost might 
prove an ugly customer, you know." 

" Ugly or na," returned the antiquated game-keeper, " my feyther 
settled him, an sae ye may stick whar ye are, for Mr. Robson will na 
langer trouble ony body. An' noo that ye ken a' aboot the murther. 
Colonel, I'll tell ye as mickle anent the ghaist." 

" The murder's capital, George. None of your fabricated ones 
could touch it." 

" An' ye'U admit, after ye'U ha' heard the tale," returned the old 

man, " that the ghaist is jist as gude ;" and he thus continued a story, 

.fc=? which, as I have done already with the opening of the tale, I shall take 

the liberty of communicating in ordinary English. 
J.-.- ■■' " The fishery of the Tweed at Norham, was then the most valuable 
on the upper waters and remarkably productive, although it might not 
have been sufficient, as it did in Bishop Pudsey's time, to feed a whole 
garrison 

" On Fridays, when they fasted," 

with salmon fresh or salt, according to the season of the year. The 
draughting, as it is done at present, was effected sometimes in the night. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. Ql 

Robson, in life, had been a man remarkable in face, air, and figure, as 
well as from a peculiar mannerism in dress, from which he never had 
made a departure. 

The evening he was interred was, for the month of July, one of that 
wild and threatening character, which in December would have been 
supposed to harbinger a tempest, but still it was not the less favourable 
for the operations of the salmon fishers — and as a " spaight " had 
brought a run of clean fish from the sea, the boatmen prepared for their 
customary work, as they always did at nightfall. 

I have already mentioned that the pathway ran through the kirk- 
yard, which connected the cottages of the fishers with the sheeleen they 
occupied on the river bank. Nine men were required to work the sal- 
mon nets, and eight of them had arrived. It was the Sabbath-night ; 
and with the reverend observance so generally paid in this country to 
that sacred day, the fishermen were waiting until — 

" Long, loud, and deep, the bell had toU'd," 

which announced that another week had opened. The chimes were 
heard, and the clock in the church-tower beside them struck the mid- 
night hour. 

" We're all here," said one of them, "but Jock Armstrong." 

" Jock will na be lang ahint his time, I'se warrant," returned 
another ; and ere the words had passed his lips, the absent fisherman 
staggered into the sheeleen, and sank upon the first settle he could reach. 
The expression of his face was ghastly ; his hair stood on end, and his 
eyes seemed bursting from their sockets, as by the blazing wood-fire his 
astonished companions examined his pallid features. 

" He's fay,"* said an old man ; " he has met wi' the gentle peo- 
ple."t 

" Or crassed the enemy o' man,' observed a second. 

" Pish !" cried a dare-devil, who in early youth had led a Border 
life, and was considered the most reckless spirit in the neighbourhood. 
" He's ainly frightened wi' a worricow in the gloamin'. Jock Arm- 
strong's a stoot chiel wi' livin' folk ; but he disna fancy to meet the 
dead. I ken he wonna crass the kirkyard after nightfa' alane, when 
he can avoid it. Gie him some whuskey, Rob." 

Slowly the frightened fisherman recovered speech, and a third glass 
of undiluted alcohol enabled him to communicate the fearful adventure 
that had befallen him. 

While the chimes of midnight beat, he had entered the kirkyard 
wicket, and as the hammer fell for the twelfth time on the church bell, 
he was passing the grave of him who had owned the Hall of the Fen- 
wicks. There lay the last tenant of the tomb — and the frightful acci- 
dent which had ended his existence so unexpectedly, was not remem- 
bered without making the passer-by shudder at the recollection. 

" Thy last hours," thought the Borderer, " were sairly troubled ; 
but naethin' noo will brak thy rest !" 

He turned his eyes from the grave. A stranger stood beside him. 
He was attired in a brown coat with glittering buttons of cut steel j 

* Mad. t The fairies. 



(52 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

his nether garments were silk stockings, united to what are now-a-days 
called "short tights." A voluminous waistcoat, black wig, and 
slouched hat completed the covering of his outer man — while shoe, 
knee, and stock buckles, of paste and silver, finished the costume and 
established the identity. The stranger was Hugh Robson. 

Jock Armstrong had not been acquainted with the laird when in 
the flesh — and after death, men are not solicitous about an introduction 
to the departed. Awfully alarmed, the fisher hurried along the kirk- 
yard pathway ; but the ghost could also " go the pace," and on 
reaching the broad avenue, he was " cheek by jowl " with the terror- 
stricken fisherman. If Armstrong turned his head aside, Mr. Robson 
was close beside the opposite elbow. To use a fancy phrase, he 
** would not be denied " — and until they reached the kirkyard gate, 
the ghost stuck to the salmon-fisher " like a brick." 

"Bah! man," exclaimed Will Foster; "'tis fancy after a'. 
When I was out in the forty-five, and when others left him, I stuck by 
Prince Charlie frae Gladsmuir to Culloden, where I gat a whap o' a 
musket ba' that brack my leg. I lay the night upon the battle-field, 
an' the dead thick eneugh aroon me. Ne'er a ghaist did I see, and I 
dinna b'lieve sic thrasharie." 

" I do," said the oldest fisherman ; " an' I wouldna pass Robson's 
grave, my lane, na, nat for a year's free draftin o' the sawmon here." 

Foster, when he recommended whisky for his friend's recovery, had 
not neglected to refresh himself; and stout of heart — as assuredly he 
was — and also strong in liquor, he swore he would step into the kirk- 
yard, and see whether Mr. Robson had retired to rest, " as decent folk, 
ye ken, should do at midnight." 

He did ; while some treated his expressed intention as idle vaunt, 
and more endeavoured to dissuade him from attempting it. But he 
persevered ; and after an absence of five minutes, returned to the shee- 
leen a more terrified salmon-fisher even than Jock Armstrong. Mr. 
Robson, it appeared, was indeed a-foot ; and he had honoured the hero 
of Culloden with an escort to the gate of the churchyard. Whether 
his perambulations were restricted to holy ground, or that he con- 
sidered it infra dignitatem to go further than his own premises, it is 
certain that the spectre never put a toe beyond the gate of the kirk- 
yard ; but, however, he never let an opportunity pass of showing 
civility to any gentleman who passed his present residence after the 
witching hour. 

" Use lessens marvel," and in time the salmon-fishers and the 
spectre became intimate. Whenever two or three of them would pass 
the kirkyard after midnight, the ghost regularly joined the party. The 
La Trappe system on both sides was rigidly observed. Mr. Robson 
would not condescend, it seemed, to speak first ; and it might be con- 
sidered impertinence in jack-booted gentry, like the salmon-draughters, 
to make advances to a personage who sported silver buckles in addition 
to a brigadier wig. Accordingly, though they walked the kirkyard, 
and iu company ; although a ministry had gone out and a dissolution 
was expected ; Mr. Robson made no political inquiries on sublunary 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 53 

matters, nor did the fishermen think themselves authorized to ask how 
matters went on below. 

In Fenwick Hall there was " wild revelry," for Black Frank 
ordered all as seemed good to him — the lady remaining in Edinburgh. 
Rumour flew over the country that Robson " visited this pale orb " as 
regularly as Norham Church struck the midnight hour ; — and suddenly 
Meg Gormly was summoned to her account, after making a most un- 
holy end to an ill-spent life, as all present bore testimony. In her 
wanderings, she spoke wildJy about Robson's death, — said, that " bis 
spirit haunted her " — muttered that " the bonny widow had her wish, 
and that na a drap o' blud was spilt, but what cam frae the dead man's 
nostrils. Hegh, cummers !" exclaimed the beldame in her ravings ; 
" talk na to me 0' leed and iron. Gie me, for speedin' a chiel cleverly 
awa, the feather-bed ; that is, ye ken, an' ye hae as gude help as 
Black Frank, an' three ither o' the Fenwick lads." 

The conjecture we offered that Mr. Robson's rnovements were 
restricted was extremely erroneous ; for after sporting his figure in the 
kirkyard, he retired to Fenwick Hall to amuse himself for the remainder 
of the night, and then and there, to use the parlance of a noble peer, 
he " played Hell and Tommy." Had he confined himself to the room 
he died in, or even appropriated a suite of apartments, the thing might 
have been tolerated; — he would have been " left alone in his glory " — 
and the servants permitted to go about there businesses as of old. But 
being of the Newcastle school, he very properly considered that he had 
*' a right to do what he pleased with his own," and after dark, not a 
spider-brusher dare venture into the lobbies, without encountering a 
stout gentleman in a brown coat with silk " continuations." Mr. Rob- 
son, like bad fortune, was anywhere and everywhere, " up stairs, and 
down stairs, and in my lady's chamber." In the flesh, he had been a 
bad style of man — and in the spirit, his manners had not altered for the 
better. His system was what is called the " free and easy," and he had 
the indelicacy of intruding on the dormitories of the female portion of 
the establishment, without even knocking at the door. In short, he was 
a most uneasy ghost, who, as it would appear, had received a roving 
commission from his Satanic Majesty. 

Much as fortune had frowned upon the house of , whose only 

crime was unflinching loyalty, she made an exception in favour of 
Reginald Morton, who had fought his way to the command of the regi- 
ment, which then garrisoned the Castle of Edinburgh. Though eighty 
or ninty years ago intelligence travelled slowly, the news of Robson's 
death reached Morton in a week or two — and the strangest rumours 
were circulated respecting an affair at once tragical and mysterious. 
That himself or his hound had been in any way connected with it, was 
totally unknown excepting to another. Kilbuck was in glorious health ; 
and whatever might have caused the calamitous end of the laird of 
Fenwick Hall, Morton felt assured that neither his hound or himself 
were accessories in the remotest degree. Still Reginald was far from 
happy ; his heart was in the possession of a woman, whose conduct to- 
wards himself could not be justified ; and touching whom, and on more 
serious charges, rumour being to circulate strange tales. The fiery 



64 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

temper of Helen Fenwick ; thQ unhappy circumstances under which 
her ill-advised union had been contracted and continued ; the neglect, 
which in her, appeared unpardonable, in committing an ailment so 
fatal as her lord's to the management of an ignorant spaewife ; the 
haste with which Robson was interred ; the knowledge that the deceased 
had actually taken preliminary steps to prevent her inheriting his 
property ; the dying confessions which escaped Meg Gormly ; and lastly, 
the re-appearance of the departed one — an occurrence in that age to 
which much importance was attached — ay, and considered gravely as 
more striking evidence than all besides to prove that foul play had 
been resorted to — all these circumstances united, gave a moral, although 
not a legal colour to the belief, that Robson had been removed by other 

than natural causes, and that his wife was cognizant of the act. 

******* 

Seated in his lonely apartment in the Castle, to which he had re- 
tired from "the merrie ha','' vvhere his military companions were drink- 
ing pottle-deep, Colonel Morton was buried in gloomy reveries. Helen 
Fenwick had broken faith with one to whom her hand was plighted ; she 
had contracted a heartless marriage, but she never, never could have 
been a fiend enough to be either a promoting or consenting party to the 
murder of her husband, wild as her temper was, and rooted as her 
hatred to him might have been. The stream of popular opinion ran 
strongly against her ; but though wronged himself, Helen would not 
wrong another. A knock disturbed this current of uneasy thoughts — • 
and an under-warder presented a letter to the Commandant of the Castle, 
which had been handed to the sentry at the gate. 

"Who brought it?" 

The warder could not tell. 

He broke the seal. The contents were brief : — merely a request that 
Colonel Morton would meet the writer at a house duly described, sit- 
uated in one of the wynds leading from the High-street, and immediately 
adjacent to the Palace. He fancied the writing was not a stranger's; 
and although disguised, suspected the invitation was a woman's. 

" I am in no mood for foolery," he muttered, as he read the Ullet 
for the third time. " I'll go, however — 'twill kill a heavy hour. In 
this world I have little to hope, and less by far to fear." Waiting till 
the trysted hour came, Reginald threw his cloak round him, and de- 
scended the long street that leads from the Castle towards the Palace. 

At the entrance of the wynd — as they call a court in Auld Reekie — 
a female was waiting for him, for she demanded his name first, and then 
desired him to follow her. Leading the way to a chamber on the upper 
story, she opened the door and ushered Morton in. There, by a lamp 
whose light was partly shrouded, a female was seated. She was habited 
in black ; and although the room was wrapped in gloom, and the face of 
the lady obscured by crape-weepers — as women's mourning was termed 
at the time — Reginald Morton at a glance recognized his former love. 
" Art thou here, Helen ?'* he muttered. 
" Yes ! Thou hast heard that I am widowed." 
" The sorry news indeed has reached me. Would that event had 
not occurred j" and Morton sighed deeply. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 65 

" How mean you ?" she said, as she sprang passionately from her 
chair. 

" I am, Helen, one of those who never blanched in the presence of 
a foe ; and whose speech is ready as his blade. I would not willingly 
wound thy feelings, could I hold back the truth ; and wild stories are 
rumored touching Robson's end. The tale of madness is absurd — Kil-. 
buck this night shared my humble supper ; and on my return home 
will stretch himself, as he has for many a year, beside his master." 

" Pshaw ! Reginald Morton, I blush for thee ! Thou need'st, I wot, 
an excuse for breaking early promise ; and the vulgal* babblings of idle 
rumour are held sufficient. Were thy fair fame impugned, I would 
have stood up for thee to the death ; and thou, who swore you loved me 
— me, the only one on earth — you hearken to the whisperings of the 
rabble. Is this worthy of thee, Reginald ? I looked to thee for pro- 
tection. I put faith in thy expressed words — •' Were I honestly wid- 
owed, thou would'st marry me.' Alas ! it seems I built my house on 
sand." 

" Helen, is thy widowhood indeed honest 1 The tale of what caused 
Robson's death / know to be fallacious. I adjure thee to say, by every 
hope of happiness here and hereafter, was that unhappy man's a natu- 
ral decease, or wert thou, as the world will have it — " He paused. 

" Speak out thy words boldly," said the lady ; but the words were 
whispered. 

" A murderess ?" said Morton, and his searching eye was turned on 
hers. 

At the moment when this fearful question was delivered, the Abbey 
clock chimed, and its ponderous bell told the hour of midnight. 

" How did thy husband pass, Helen ? Foully or fairly ?" 

" Fairly as Heaven is true !" was the reply. 

" Foully as hell is false !" was returned quick as an echo ; and as 
Morton and the lady turned round, startled at the intrusion of a geur 
tleman, who seemed in no ways backward in offering an opinion — 
there stood, in propria persona, wigged, breeched, and buckled — Mr. 
Robson ! 

The lady fainted on the spot. The Colonel, we suppose, demanded 
whether the ghost was on leave of absence between returns, or had 
retired to Pandemonium on half-pay. Mr. Robson, however, was too 
ungentlemanly to return a civil answer ; and the meeting ended in 
" most admired disorder." 

" And how did the whole affair wind up ?" I asked the old man. 

" Why it's easy tauld. The leddy retired to a convent over seas, 
for Reginald Morton would na ha her. The Colonel, puir man, was 
sticket unfairly in a duel, after he had let the gentleman who had fallen 
get on his legs again — and that was unco foolish in him. An my ain 
honest feyther was the last sufferer of a', except Black Frank, who 
was justified at Carlisle for fire-raising in the Lothians, an a wee-bit 
murder that happened accidentally, in pitting the steading in a low." 

" But why should your father have been a sufferer ? He had no hand 
in the affair," I observed. 

" That's a' true, Colonel, but I'll explain it to ye. He was a bauld 

5 



55 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

man, and had been oot wi' the young Prince in the forty-five, and had a 
narra escape frae the woodie, on which mony an honest mon had his 
craigie stretchit at Carlisle. Weel, he was one of the fishers here ; an 
one unchancy night he got a wee thing fu, an naething would do thro' 
fule hardiness, but he would ha a crack wi the ghaist. Now, tho' Mr. 
Robson wakit every night wi any body that passed thro' the kirk-yard, 
he never opened his lips to ony one ; and feth ! the folk had nae desire 
to begin a chat wi' him. It's held to be unlucky, ye ken, and sae it 
proved to the puir Colonel, for he was rin thro' the carcass, within a 
twalmonth, after he ceevily askit what business a ghaist had in a led- 
dy's chamber. Weel, my feyther kept his word, an mair to his ain 
sorra. He spoke wi' the spectre — and what passed between them ne- 
ver was made known — but when he returned to the sheelen, there was 
na mair bluid in his face than in a turnip." 

" ' Weel, James, what news frae — ' and the fisher pointed his finger 
towards the bad place. 

" ' Speer me nae questions,' said my feyther, ' Mr. Robson will trou- 
ble ye no mair.' 

" ' Hae ye spoken 'till him, James V 

" ' I hae,' returned my feyther, ' and I wish the tip had been taken 
off my tongue afore it wagged ; it's na to be mended noo.' 

" Weel, Colonel, my feyther was a hale mon, for he was no forty. 
He never did a ban's turn's gude, but dwammelled away — and before 
the yule-log was laid in the hearth, he was lyin in the kirk-yard. He's 
buried in yan corner." 

" Faith, George, you seem to have taken care to separate him from 
Mr. Robson," and I smiled. 

" Dinna fancy. Colonel, that this story is idle clavers. Mr. Robson 
ne'er appeared again ; my feyther deed within thra months, an a' the 
auld people ken it to be true. Noo, Colonel, sodgers are rash and fear- 
less — but an ye iver meet a ghaist, jist keep ye'er distance, and enter 
into na conversation, gude nor bad ; for once a mon is sodded, he's nae 
fit company for the living." 

" Upon my conscience, George ! I fully agree with you, and should 
I meet your fat friend, notwithstanding his silver buckles and general 
respectability, I'll cut him dead, et nullus error, as the Duke of Wel- 
lington pithily expresses it." 

We rose, quitted the kirk-yard, and in five minutes were across the 
Tweed, and again in " Merrie England." 



CHAPTER X. 



A FRIEND of mine, the host of the King's Arms, in whom I have as 
much faith as Hamlet had in the ghost, and whose word anent all pis- 
catorial matters I would take " for a thousand," frequently spoke of the 
upper part of the Whitadder, where that beautiful stream receives the 
Dy, with ardent praise ; while another, albeit not a disciple of *' the 
quaint and cruel" Isaac, dwelt with enthusiastic ardour upon the pasto 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 67 

ral beauty and romantic character of the wild and secluded district 
called the Lammermuir. To both I listened with deep interest, and 
either report would have been to me a sufficient inducement to under- 
take a brief pilgrimage to these lonely glens, even had they not been 
associated with the name of Scott, and converted by his inimitable 
legend into classic ground. I put myself accordingly into light march- 
ing order, and set out to visit a scene I had heard so much about, and 
which certainly more than realized my expectations. Roofing " the 
Magnet" at Berwick, I took the road to Edinburgh, being apprized that 
at a place called "Tommy Grant's" I could diverge from the high road 
and strike through the Moors to Abbey Saint Bathans, where, as I was 
assured I should receive, according to poetic authority, " the warmest 
welcome in an inn." 

Who ever travelled twenty miles upon a coach without gleaning 
some information ? Beside me sat a lady's-maid, the family she ap- 
pertained to occupying the interior of "the leather conveniency." 
They were fresh from a continental excursion, had steamed up the 
Rhine, and visited, on their return, the far-famed plains of Waterloo. 
The soubrette, who was extremely communicative, gave me a full, true, 
and particular account, not only of the field but of the fight ; and al- 
though I had been there myself, I suppose in the general confusion, 
some interesting particulars had escaped me. One of her most graphic 
descriptions was that of a personal encounter between old Blucher and 
Marshal Ney, until " both fell from sheer fatigue from the horses." Of 
this "terrific combat" — as this sort of set-to is described in Astley's 
play-bills — I had never heard before, and touching its truth I ventured 
to express some suspicion. But as the man who ciceroned the visitors 
had been himself an eye-witness, I bowed to his authority. I always 
reciprocate information ; and as we passed Lamberton-Bar — a turnpike 
which separates the kingdoms, and unites lovers by the dozen — I 
pointed out to my pretty companion the treachei'ous " Coohouse " on 
the English side of the gate, where woman has been tricked into invalid 
matrimony by villanous man ; and implored her when she came matri- 
monially to the Border, to be sure the knot indissoluble should be tied 
in the kitchen. She listened like another Desdemona ; and, as she was 
a native of Auld Reekie, and consequently a canny Scot, I fancy after 
my warning, there would be some difficulty to persuade her to stand 
hymeneals in the cow-house. 

My visit to Lammermuir was to be unfortunately mai'ked nigro 
lapide, and indeed, will ever be one of painful recollection. The whole 
of the preceding day it had thundered but the peals were distant, and 
the rain fell but slightly. To-day the sky was heavily overcast, and 
an oppressive heat and woolpacked clouds, told that they were sur- 
charged with lightning ; and soon after leaving Berwick the storm burst 
awfully. It rolled away, however, towards the left ; and, as it ap- 
peared, its fury had been reserved for and discharged upon, the hills of 
Lammermuir. 

I heard the thunder-storm that harbingered the field of Salamanca ; 
and I watched the lightning flashing across " red Waterloo," as we 
couched in the tall rye the night before the battle. I suppose these 



68 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

elemental uproars were forgotten in the bloody morrow which they 
preluded — for I feel convinced that neither will leave the lasting im- 
pression on the memory, like that which I witnessed yesterday. 

The coach had been delayed an hour beyond its time, as the op- 
pressive heat prevented the horses keeping their usual regularity. A 
momentary stoppage landed me and my personals at the hostelrie of 
Tommy Grant, and on inquiry, I found what Pangloss calls a " vehi- 
cular conveyance " was unattainable, excepting I would embark person 
and property in a common cart, which as " needs must," I willingly 
accepted. While waiting for the horse being " yoked," they told me 
that a melancholy accident had just occurred — a man, and the two 
horses he was ploughing with, being struck with lightning and 
killed. 

Humble as my carriage was, 1 was too happy in having obtained 
any mode of transit save my own legs, for the sun had burst out with 
an intensity of heat which I had never felt, even in the Peninsular. 
We took a by-road that branched towards the Lammermuir, and passed 
the field where the accident had happened. The horses were lying 
harnessed on the ground as they had been struck down, but the body 
of the young man had been carried to his father's house, which, with 
half-a-dozen others occupied by the grieves, was attached to the farm- 
stead, and stood on the road-side which we passed. As we drove along 
we heard " the cry of women." Well, grief that finds expression is 
soonest remedied. But a scene awaited me that, to the last hour of my 
life, I shall painfully call to memory. 

A short distance from the house where the corpse after death had 
been conveyed to, I observed an elderly man seated beneath a stone 
dyke, and a young girl of uncommon beauty, endeavouring, as I sup- 
posed, to console him. 

" That," said the driver, as we passed, " is the puir lad's feyther 

and sister." 

I could not proceed without offering a stranger's sympathy — and 
jumping from the cart, returned to the spot the mourners occupied. 
The sun shone out with all the intensity peculiar to the pauses 

which intervene between the disruption of rain-clouds on a thundering 

day. Bare-headed, the old man appeared insensible to heat, to me 

almost intolerable. I approached and took his hand — and to my silent 

pressure the grasp of a horny palm was returned. 

" The sun, my poor old friend, will sicken you. Come, change to 

the other side, where you will get some shelter." 

" I dinna feel it," he said. " My brain is burnin,' and when the 

heed's afire within, what recks it aboot sun or shooer wi'out ?" 

He looked slowly up and scanned me over. Not a tear was visible 

in his clear blue eye, and its glassy glaze was turned upon mine, which 

I am not ashamed to say was moistened. 

" Ye are gentle o' birth," he contined, " for kindness always comes 

fra gentle breeding. Ye are a sodger, too. That slash across the 

cheek, and the proud bearing o' yer walk, tell me the trade ye followed. 

Many a man ye ha' seen stretched in yer time, and yet yer heart is 

soft. I was a sodger myself lang syne — an saw a bluidy field at 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 69 

Corunna, My heart ne'er quailed^ — but noo, Archie, Archie, my 
youngest an' my best- loved !" 

Tears burst in a torrent from his eyes. Up sprang the fair young 
girl, and clasped him in her arms. 

" He'll live ! he'll live !" she cried in an agony of joy. " Tears 
rin doon his face. The heart winna brake, the heart winna brake, 
after a'." 

" God comfort you !" I said, as I wrung his hand. 

" Amen !" replied the fair-haired girl, and flinging her arms around 
him, she led him to the house, as I mounted my humble vehicle, and 
seated myself on the bag of hay which had been especially prepared 

for my accommodation. 

****** 

The outline of the Lammermuir is wild, but beautfully pastoral. 
There are an eternity of hills extending over the whole surface, but not 
one Alpine enough to refuse approach to a London common councilman. 
Many of these swelling knolls are richly-wooded, while sylvan scenery 
and mountain rivulets diversify a surface of brown heath and green 
pasture. The Whitadder winds through a line of valleys, until, in 
Scott's words, it 

" Hurries its waters to the Tweed," 

and holds a central course through the most picturesque valleys of the 
Lammermuir, after having received a pretty tributary called the Dy, a 
mile above Elmford. 

Such is a rough sketch of the face and character of a broad district, 
which, but a hundred years ago, 

" Echoed to the robber's horn," 

but which for half a century has been unstained with a crime, save one. 

Lammermuir — as his Grace of Wellington would happily express 
it — is not Tipperary — and here you will not get a man shot for love or 
money ; and even an attempt at assassination would set the district in 
an uproar. To-day, as in the course of my wanderings, I passed close 
to a plantation, 

Heigh ! sir, look yonder," observed my conductor. " Fra behine 
yon hedge an attempt was made to commit murther !" 

And the intonation of his voice, rising as the sentence proeeeded, 
had nearly reached a scream at the awful word that closed it. 

" Only an attempt, my friend," I replied cpolly. " Pish ! An 
Irish guide would not waste his own words or the traveller's time, with 
recording a bungling effort at sending a gentleman to eternity." 

" May the Laird preserve us !" exclaimed my companion, 
proceeding to give a round-about detail of a transaction which, in my 
opinion, is not worth record, only to point the inadequacy of punishment 
to crime. 

A widow, the wrong side of thirty-five, had a brace of lovers ten 
years younger than herself; and considering that she could be happy 
with either, she did not send " the other dear charmer away," as she 
should have done, but flirted with the twain. At last she was obliged 
to make an election — and owning d la Mrs. Malaprop, " the soft 



'^Q HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

impeachment," consented to accompany the fortunate youth in a few 
days to the hymeneal ahar. The rejected one took his " throw over " 
in deep dudgeon, and determined to put in a caveat to the projected 
union. He borrowed a gun, bought some lead at Dunse, fabricated a 
handful of slugs, and waited patiently in the plantation to put the 
gentleman 

" Who took his stand, 
Upon the widow's jointured land," 

past leech-craft and the prayers of the kirk. 

Three evenings he kept a bright look out, but in the haze he could 
not securely mark his victim — and not wishing to throw a chance 
away, he waited patiently for the fourth one. It came — the morning 
" Which promised rapture in its close," 

was settled for the next one, and the gay bridegroom and his " best 
man " were proceeding to pay the last visit that the lady, " in widowed 
loneliness," expected to receive. The rejected lover, who had decided 
on interrupting the hymeneal rites by a more effective process than for- 
bidding the bans, fired deliberately from behind the hedge as his rival 
passed it, and lodged some fifty slugs in the body of the bridegroom, 
and half-a-dozen in the arm of his friend, which happened, unluckily 
for the owner, to be rather in the way. 

Now, in his anxiety to make the job complete, the ruffian had so 
over-loaded the gun with slugs, that the powder had not sufficient power 
to drive them beyond the depth of a flesh-wound. The intended victim 
consequently recovered — the murderer, in intention, was convicted on 
the clearest evidence, and the Law Lord who tried him, sent him for 
seven years beyond the seas ! Was that punishment adequate to the 
crime ? The scoundrel had gone twenty miles to obtain the gun — had 
travelled half that distance to procure the lead — had waited four long 
days to effect his murderous purpose, and he got off with less punish- 
ment than would have been inflicted on a respectable sheep-stealer 
fifty years ago. 

Before I detail my evening angling, 1 must introduce the reader to 
the hostelriel am cantoned in. It comprises two rooms — the chamber 
of dais I occupy in the lonely stateliness of another Robinson Crusoe ; 
while Mrs. Martha Pringle, with the whole of her establishment, so- 
journ in the opposite one. This latter is an apartment of surpassing 
utility — for it is kitchen, dormitory, and general reception room for 
passing travellers. Lest a way-farer should pass in ignorance, a board 
is affixed to the gable of the mansion, intimating that Mrs. Pringle is 
engaged in the sale of foreign spirits, and also carries on an extensive 
wine trade. Now by this platitude in description, the sale of Highland 
whiskey is typified ; for during a residence of thirty years, with the 
exception of one half anker of smuggled brandy, no liquor save Scot- 
tish alcohol ever crossed the threshold. When the Duke Aranza com- 
plimented the rural retreat he had selected wherein to pass his honey- 
moon, he described it as " a low, snug dwelling, and in good repair." 
I cannot extend this praise to the Highland caravanserai where I am 
located at this present writing : the roof is sadly in want of thatch — 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 71 

and the back wall of the building is only prevented from falling out- 
wards bodily, by half-a-dozen young fir-trees which shore it up. 

" Meg," I said, addressing a young lady, who I am informed will 
inherit the virtues and personal effects of " auld Mattie," as the neigh- 
bours call mine hostess — " in heaven's name, why don't ye rebuild 
that tottering wall ?" 

" Heigh ! we ha been thinkin o' it these five years," returned Miss 
Pringle, " but it's unco fasheous, and sae we'll jist stick anither tree 
again it after harvest, and knock anither winter oot." 

But justice for Lammermuir obliges me to say that my chamber is 
clean and comfortable. Though there is no " butcher meat," the ham 
and eggs, and chuckies are commendable — while the Whitadder trouts 
are remarkably fat and well-flavoured, and young Meg fi-ies them to 
perfection. 

I strolled out after an early dinner, and proceeded up the river to a 
favourite hole called " the Black well." While putting my rod to- 
gether, I fell into conversation with a herd who was skinning a dead 
sheep, and was informed by him, that the animal had been killed by an 
adder-bite ; and that the Lammermuir was as much afflicted with these 
reptiles, as the Cheviots had formerly been by foxes. This was the 
fourth wedder his master had lost during the season — and every sheep- 
owner in these hills had suffered more or less. 

The adder which seems peculiar to the Lammermuir, far exceeds in 
size any I had met with in the Highlands, and but for the unity in de- 
scription which all I spoke with preserved, I would have fancied that 
the venomous, little, dirty, ash-coloured reptile, scarcely ranging above 
a finger's length or two, had been confounded by the herds with the 
harmless whipsnake I had so often found in English forests, and fre- 
quently in the Argyleshire muirs. But ere many minutes passed, I had 
an opportunity of convincing myself that the herdsmen were correct. 
His sheep-dog pointed at a bank — a low hissing, like that of a young kit- 
ten, was heard ; — the shepherd called his dog in, and moved a bunch of 
ferns with his stick, and out glided a reptile which measured two-and- 
twenty inches, after the herd had dispatched it at a blow. 

I killed a dozen and half of fine large trouts with minnows, as I de- 
scended the stream, and on arriving at mine inn, found the kitchen thick- 
ly tenanted. The herd, who had finished the adder, was waiting by 
special appointment for his " mutchin of whooskey." A travelling mer- 
chant from Dunse, with a pack-load of coarse haberdashery wares, was 
also refreshing himself. A gipsy tinker was uniting a broken sugar- 
basin, while his wife, at the gable of the house, was telling the miller's 
lassie her fortune ; who, though detached for a supply of sugar in double 
quick, had determined to ascertain the trade and complexion of her fu- 
ture husband, before the minister, who had dropped in upon the man of 
grain, should receive the saccharine ingredient, wherewith to compound 
his toddy. I stepped into the kitchen to light a cigar, and found the 
company busy in discussing certain peculiarities connected with adder 
bites, and their remedies. On this subject they seemed quite aufait — 
and agreed unanimously that " the sovereignest thing on earth," parma- 



72 HILLrSIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

cettie not excepted — was a sort of hell-broth, prepared from an adder 
skinned, cut into steaks, and boiled on a slow fire, care being taken to 
skim this infernal potage from time to time, to remove the venomous por- 
tions of the composition, which would be sure to rise to the surface. 

I ventured to express my infidelity touching this nostrum, proving in 
every case a specific ; but my skepticism was reproved by Miss Prin- 
gle, who pointing to an ancient turnspit reposing underneath a chair, at 
once triumphantly established the virtue of hell-broth over Holloway's 
ointment or Morrison's pills. 

" Look at the wee doggie under my mither there. He's, puir thing, 
a foondling, and I got him at Dunse whare he went astray. When he 
cam here, ten years agone, the folk I got him fra, ca'ed him " Juno," 
but for shortness we christened him " Jack," and he seemed to tak kind- 
ly wi the name." 

I here ventured to remark, that the poetic license was extensive, by 
which a male turnspit was named after the Queen of Heaven. I cer- 
tainly recollected a case in the "gem of the sea," where the canine spe- 
cies was ingeniously altered, but still the generic appellative was re- 
spected. An Irish gentleman, who wanted a house-dog, was presented 
with a greyhound called ' Spring.' " Faith ! I made him answer well 
enough," said the new proprietor, " for I docked his ears and tail, 
turned him into a mastiff, and called him ' Lion.' " 

" Weel, weel. Colonel !" continued Miss Pringle, " I dinna ken much 
difference between Juno and Jack, after a' — but that's nae matter. The 
wee beastie under the chair, had na been here mair than a few days, 
when in he cam happin on three legs, wi' the fourth yun as thick as a' 
the ither three pit togither. I kenned at a glance he had been bit by a 
sarpent, and expected he would die, when who should come in but the 
schoolmaister's eldest bairn. ' Meg, woman,' says he, ' rin oot. The 
biggest adder ye ever laid eye on, I have kilt ben the hoose, wi a stane/ 
Well, oot I dashed, picked the beast up, skinn'd and boiled him, and 
washed Jack wi the licker weel and aften ; and there he is, puir beastie. 
What div ye say to that. Colonel ?" 

It would have been useless to have entered the lists with Miss Prin- 
gle, for the tinker and travelling merchant — men of extensive experi- 
ence — came forward with conclusive proofs of what had been done with 
hell-broth, and as that too was under their own inspection, argument 
would have been useless. I, accordingly, sat down upon the table, fab- 
ricated a glass of toddy, listened to an account from the tinker, of his 
wife having been assaulted in good daylight and upon the open moor by 
a truculent adder, who bit her through her two woollen petticoats with 
other clothes which it would be incorrect to name — and but for 
prompt administration of the hell-broth, there was not a doubt but the 
lady at present telling the fortunes of the miller's maid, would have been 
gathered to her fathers. The travelling merchant sang into the same 
strain ; Mrs. Pringle also added her valuable testimony ; and to all 
these testimonials respecting living adders, I dare not play deaf one. I 
retired for supper to mine own great chamber, to decide afterwards if I 
could, whether the vulpine fallacies of the Cheviots, or the adder here- 
sies of Lammermuir, were more unconquerable. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 73 

It is said that in " auld lang syne," the audacity of the foxes which 
infested the Cheviot range of hills, actually surpassed belief; and the 
ingenuity of man was consequently hard taxed to counteract their 
enormities. Necessity produces invention, and, at last, balm was found 
in Gilead ; for an ingenious gentleman by the following simple formula 
abated the nuisance : 

" Foxes do much mischief in all steads," quoth the author of a 
valuable treatise,* " chiefly in the mountains heer, where they bee 
hardly hunted. Howbeit art hath devised a meane to prevent their 
malice and to preserve the poultry in some part, and especially in Glen- 
moores. Every house nourisheth a younge foxe, and then killing the 
same, they mixe the flesh thereof among such meate as they give unto 
the fowle, and other little bestialle ; and by this means, so many fowles 
or cattell as eate thereof are safely preserved from the danger of the 
foxes, by the space of almost two monthes after, so that they may wander 
whither they will, for the foxes smelling the flesh of their fellowes yet 
in their crops, will in no wayes meddle with them, but eschew and 
know such a one, although it were among a hundred others." 

Now, not having practically tried this remedy against robbery, 
I still hold some doubts whether the addition of " a younge foxe " to 
the dietary of the poultry yard would improve the general flavour of 
" the little bestialle " therein contained ; and I entertain still stronger 
suspicions, that the " red rascal " would not respect the charm, even 
though his own father had formed the principal article in this valuable 
admixture. I am going in a few days into the Cheviots — and I sin- 
cerely pray that Luckie Macsneish, to whose hotel and hospitality I am 
specially recommended, neither entrusts the fattening of the chuckles 
to the formula detailed above, nor even depends upon it for their security. 
If she do, I shall have a chance of dining with Duke Humphrey on 
my arrival in the glens ; and she may sit down under the dyke, and 
troll the burden of Dominie Sampson's song — " a good fat hen, and 
away she goes !" 



CHAPTER XL 



I HAVE not pinned my faith on the opinions of others, nor would the 
dicta of Isaac Walton himself, did he honour me with an evening visit 
while moth-fishing in twilight on Till or Teviot, induce me to jump to 
a hasty conclusion ; but I do believe and avow, on the veracity of a 
Christian man, that there is not within the four seas of Britain, a river 
fit to hold a candle to the Tweed. Whether its beauty, its romance, or 
its angling advantages be considered, this classic stream, with its splendid 
tributaries, is unrivalled ; and whether the visit be poetic or piscatorial, 
it will repay the wayfarer for a pilgrimage. 

There are men who have asserted that angling is effected by the 
agency of a stick and string, whose opposite extremities are provided 

* " Of the greate plentie of hares, red deere, and other wild beastes of Scotland. 
Of the strange properties of sundry Scottish dogges ; and of the nature of salmond." 



74 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

with a fool and worm. There are others M'ho fancy that dabbling in the 
New River, or the Tower Ditch — before it was filled in — came under 
the name of fishing. • In Cockayne, the delusion is not to be removed 
that a fish-dinner is procurable at Blackwall — and that the same eom- 
prehendeth Dutch eels, filthy perch, London salmon, and water-zouchy. 
With persons holding such heretical opinions, I would not condescend 
to hold converse or keep company ; but let them go to their account, 
" with all their imperfections on their heads." But to the enthusiast 
in the gentle art — he whose keen eye can detect the rock beside which 
the fresh-run salmon is reposing, and whose true arm can project the 
fly, light as thistle-down itself, to the broken water that eddies over 
" the silvered visitor " from the sea ; or to the poetic spirit, who loves 
to wander by moorland tarn or glittering streamlet, meditate in the 
mouldering abbey, or dream of border frays and " foughten fields " 
amid the ruins of some demolished fortalice — these I invite to classic 
Tweed — ay, even should it be necessary to beg, borrow, or even steal 
the viaticum for the journey. Should the latter be resorted to — were 
I upon their jury, I would consider that the end justified the means — and 
return a verdict of " not guilty." 

But to a far different class, and these generally hardened offenders, 
who annually endanger soul and body at the Crown and Sceptre, by a 
surfeit of white bait, I would also extend my invitation. Let them make 
their wills, cherish their wives, whip the children, and throw them- 
selves on board the first steamer bound to Berwick. Let them pass 
such a day as I did yesterday on " silver Tweed," and if they ever re- 
visit their families, or return to Pudding Lane or Amen Corner during 
their natural lives, I'll write myself " a soused gurnet." 

I was invited by a gentleman of the town to join a rustic party — and 
partake of an alfresco entertainment, in this corner of the earth termed 
" a kettle" — and while the ladies proceeded to the scene of action by 
land, we rowed up the Tweed in one of the flat cobbles used in salmon- 
fishing. The day was fine ; and the varied scenery which the bend- 
ings of the river occasionally presented, was extremely picturesque. At 
any time of the year this row up the Tweed would have been interest- 
ing ; but from the active draughting for salmon, and the numerous 
groups of fishermen we passed, the stream had acquired additional ani- 
mation ; and, as the sun shone brilliantly, nothing could be more spark- 
ling than the silver scales of the beautiful captives, as they were 
dragged by dozens to the shore. 

There is a peculiar method employed by the salmon-fishers on the 
lower Tweed, which I have not remarked in use at other waters. 
Beside several of the fords, lofty observatories framed with wood and 
mounted by an attached ladder, are erected, having a box on the summit, 
like the judges' stand upon a race-course. Here a man is posted — and 
his practised eye detects the back-fin of the salmon as he hurries up the 
stream : an alarm is given from the look-out ; the net is shot — and gen- 
erally, the victim is enclosed and captured. 

As much wading is unavoidable, the fishermen are provided with 
water-proof boots. They are made of strong leather, coarsely soled, and 
studded with enormous nails. They roll up when required, to the 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 75 

waist ; and the jack-boots used by the household cavalry, are as opera 
ones to these by comparison. From day-break on Monday morning, 
until midnight on Saturday, the ford-fishers remain booted, ready to 
launch the cobble at a moment's notice when' the look-out descries a 
passing fish. I used to imagine that the " watch and ward" at Brank- 
some Castle was severe,* but as these brave Borderers who 

" Carved at the meal, 
With gloves of steel, 
And drank the red wine thro' the helmet barr'd," * 

had three reliefs, f compared to a Tweed salmon-fisher, their tour-de- 
service was about as oppressive as that of the gallant gentleman in blue 
or scarlet, who may be seen daily — ay, and even in the wet weather — 
comfortably niched, carbine in hand, at either side of the Horse- 
Guards. 

The place chosen for onx fete cliampetre was happily selected. It 
was a ruined mansion, enclosed in an acre or two of ground, once com- 
prising a goodly orchard, 

" And still where many a garden flower grows wild." 

There were old stone piers, and grotesque figures, and broken urns : 
all were memorials of the past, and pointed an imposing lesson of muta- 
bility and decay. But one object, more striking than all together, 
appeared at the bottom of the garden. There stood the family vault : 
its close vicinity to the ruined building, harmonizing well with the gen- 
eral picture of decay. I gazed a few minutes on " the narrow house " 
— and the Scriptural admonition struck me forcibly : " That is the end 
of all men, and the living should lay it to his heart." 

Dilapidated as the exterior of the mansion was, the interior was still 
more ruinous. Some of the sashes were only here and there supplied 
with broken glass ; but the greater number were boarded up, or their 
shutters nailed together. The huge chimney in the hall, bore evidence 
to the antiquity of the building ; and here many a petitioner, or delin- 
quent, had awaited, with trembling anxiety, the appearance of the great 
man, on whose breath hung the possession of the cottage, or not unfre- 
quently, a committal to the stocks. I turned into the dining-room : half 
its panelling was gone, and the rough plaster of the walls, which the 
oak wainscot had once covered, was exposed. In the corner stood a 
large press, or as it might better be described, a closet. One of its 
folding doors had fallen from the hinges, and the empty shelves within 
were visible. Were they always empty ? — Ah ! no. Many a flask of 
wine had been extracted from that well-stored crypt, when the yule-log 
sparkled in the chimney, and the crowded board " groaned with the 

* " Ten of them were sheathed in steel. 
With belted sword, and spur at heel ; 
They quitted not their harness bright. 
Neither by day, nor yet by night." 

Lay of the Last Minstrel. 

+ " Nine and twenty knights of fame 

Hung their shields in Branksome hall." 
Ibid. 



76 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

weight of the feast," the misletoe overhead announcing that "merrie 
Christmas " had come round again. How often had this fretted ceiling 
— now mouldering piecemeal away — echoed back the gibe and jest ? 
But where were they that uttered them ? — those who " set the table in 
a roar." I raised my eyes — through the shattered casement I saw the 
little building across the garden. There, he who had filled the seat of 
honour was reposing : and the banquet-room had been exchanged for 
the charnel-house. 

I left the once " merrie ha," and mounted a staircase, whose clumsy 
ballusters bespoke its solidity, and seemed determined to withstand the 
touch of time. The peasant girl, who had chaperoned us through the 
gardens, halted here, and declined a pressing invitation to accompany 
my further researches. " Was she afraid to trust herself with me ?" 

" Na, nat a whit," was the naive reply. " A gentleman wi' a white 
pow had given up daffin wi' the lassies." 

" Well, why would she not pilot me, when my gray head offered 
such ample security against flirtation ?" She hesitated, and after some 
demur, acknowledged that she " was greatly afeard of ghaists." 

" Ghosts ! who ever heard of a ghost taking exercise in daylight V* 

A heavy tramp was heard, the salmon-fisher, who had rowed me 
up the Tweed appeared, with a basket containing a fish taken five 
minutes before, and crimped secundum artem. " Why, Jeanie, woman !" 
he exclaimed, " what the deil are you scared aboot ? Here, tak' this, 
sawmon ben the hoose, and I'll gang through the buildin' wi' his 
honour." 

This substitution of service was highly agreeable : Jeanie seized the 
basket and disappeared. While the boatman tramped up the staircase, 
the heavy foot-falls of his iron-shod boots, contrasting strikingly with 
the melancholy silence, which seemed to reign paramount through the 
desolate mansion. 

He pointed to a built-up doorway, and informed me that this — the 
communication between the inhabited wing, and the deserted portion of 
the building — had been thus interrupted, for the double purpose of 
" keepin' aff the ghaists, and savin' the winda-tax," and I admitted in 
return, that either of these considerations was quite a sufficient apology 
for retrenching the ruin. A large and gloomy lobby opened on the 
stair-head, and on went the salmon-fisher, making as loud an alarum 
down the corridor, as William of Deloraine did on the night he turned 
resurrectionist at Melrose Abbey, when — 

" The arched cloisters, far and wide. 
Rung to the warrior's clanking stride." 

At the termination of this passage, a folding-door, of which one 
moiety was unhinged, gave us admission to the drawing-room. Like 
the apartment underneath, it also was panelled with brown oak ; and 
as its casements were less sheltered from the storm, but little of the 
glass remained, and the nailed-up shutters threw an additional gloom 
over its desolation ; while the broken carving of a chimney-piece of 
black walnut, exhibited a few spots of tarnished gilding, and gave the 
room a more melancholy air. Inside, there was a wainscoted chamber^ 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 77 

gloomier and more ruinous even than the drawing-room ; and a third 
chamber completed the suit. This — possibly the dressing-room — was 
in a different style : for a few tattered shreds of paper, which described 
an antiquated hunting scene, were dangling from the walls. 

My conductor permitted me to contemplate these forlorn relics of 
pristine gentility for a minute — and then intimated that these were the 
haunted apartments. 

" And, upon my conscience !" I ejaculated, " a better beat for a 
walking gentleman* could not be found. Why a ghost in the commis- 
sion of the peace, or worth three hundred a year, might be proud to 
select these quarters." 

" Your honour laughs," returned the salmon-fisher, " I never saw 
him, but I heard him." 

" Heard who V 

" The ghost." 

" Nonsense !" 

" Ay, I heard him, as surely as I hear you," was the reply. 

" Was it a ' spirit of peace, or goblin damned V " 

" I don't exactly understand you ; but I'll tell you the story. I 
was sweet-hearting at the time, wi' the woman I'm married on syne, 
and as is common in the kintry here, I used to come to clash wi' her, 
when the folks here were quiet and asleep. To sae the truth, I was 
oftener a-foot by night than day at the time : for, if the truth is told, I 
was then a wee thought in the smugglin' line, ye ken. As Jeanie and 
I could na' jist the while manage to come together, wa did na' wish a' 
the world to claver aboot our keepin' company — and sa when a' the 
family were at rest, I used to come to the back yet, and creep in 
thi'ough a windy the lass left open. The servants slept below — the 
gentlefolk on the floor abune us — for these chamers had sic an awfu' 
character, that deil a yun would venter in after night-fa' on ony 
errand. Smugglers are daring chiels, — and in my day, they said I 
was a bould yun, — go for fear the lads below would catch us at the 
coortin', I persuaded Jeanie — and sair agen her wool — to come up to 
this room, where yer honour stands at present. 

" It was a Friday night, gude Lord ! I'll niver forget it, nor Jenny 
ather — I had run a horse-load of brandy into Berwick — got it a' safe, 
and made mysel' a wee thought fu', when I cam ower the water to 
keep tryst with my Jo here. We cam up stairs as usual ; and after a 
while's coortin', I began daffin' Janet aboot the ghaist. ' Jeanie,' says 
I, ' if the auld lad cam and cotched us.' ' Lord sake ! man !' says she, 
* dinna name him, or I'll drap.' ' Hoogh ! woman — dinna fash yoursel' 
aboot sic folly ; there's na sic things as spirits.' Noo — mind what I'm 
goin' to say, Colonel — the words were scarce oot o' my mouth, when 
tramp, tramp, tramp, — a heavy fut cam doon the lobby yonder — Jeanie 
clung to me half-faintin'. We heard the ooter door opened, and then 
the second after it. Wasn't it a mercy we had mad our coortin' in 
this one ? For, as I suppose, the ghaist was ashamed to come into the 
room where he had murdered his beautiful leddy." 

* In Ireland, a person who revisits " this round orb," after having been decently 
interred, is said " to walk." 



78 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" Murdered a beautiful lady!" 

" Ay — ay ; patience, Colonel, ana I'll tell ye a' aboot it as we row 
doon the river in the evening. Weel, Colonel, we waited there a' 
night, and did na dare venture oot till the sun was beamin' in ; an' the 
de'il a fut iver Jeanie or niysel' set inside the ghaist's rooms after it. 
But I hear them callin' for ye — so come up stairs — ^though ye'll see . 
naethin' there but ruins." 

I found, as the salmon-fisher had apprized me, that the upper de- 
partment of the building was still more ruinous than the rooms below. 
The roof was sadly defective, and the water it admitted was sapping 
the floors, and doing the work of demolition silently, but more securely 
than the storm. One chamber at the extremity of the corridor had 
more interest for me even than the haunted room below it. That 
room. Home Tooke had occupied ; and a few years since, among a 
heap of rubbish and the debris of a deserted house, several notes and 
scraps of his writing were discovered. I looked around me with re- 
spectful admiration. This decayed and desolate apartment had once 
tenanted a high and gifted spirit ; and probably, on the spot I stqpd. 
some philippic was indited, before which corruption trembled ! A 
voice behind me broke the reflective chain. It was the lassie ; and 
Jeanie, encouraged by the presence of a second protector and broad 
daylight, had gallantly ventured up the stairs, to tell me " the kettle 
was a' ready," thereby intimating the contents of the same. 

I followed the salmon-fisher, who strode down the stairs in advance, 
Jeanie prudently keeping in the centre, and thus having her front and 
rear secured. 

" Jeanie, lass," said the descendant of a moss-trooper, as we passed 
the door that led to the ghost's apartments, " will ye keep tryst wi' me 
here the night ?" 

" Na, Rob," replied the girl, '• I would na venture that, were ye as 
young, and twice as weel-favoured as when ye near drove Janet Arm- 
strong mad, by bringing her to sic a place to coojrt in." 

And so saying, she bounded down half-a-dozen stairs and vanished. 

I found on issuing from the haunted house, that, while all the comi- 
pany besides had been actively employed, like Diogenes at Sinope, I 
had been an idler. In a corner of the garden, a fire had been lighted ; 
and over it, and supported from three stakes united at the top, " the 
kettle " was suspended. Around the fire, a dozen salmon-cutlets, each 
fixed upon a wooden skewer, were roasting ; and to the gardener's wife, 
the task of boiling the potatoes had been confided. It was what in the 
land of Cockayne they call a " a refreshing sight," to see that honest 
kettle bubbling, and listen to the gentle hissing of cutlets severed from 
the person of a salmon, which one brief hour before could have thrown 
a clean summerset over the bright surface of the Tweed. My eye 
wandered up the alley — for there, was " metal more attractive." Under 
an ash that had seen two centuries, the table was being spread ; and 
three prettier women than those that were garnishing the same, could 
not have been found over the wide Border. It is true that the men 
have degenerated — taken to trade and agriculture — without courage 
" to cry stand ! to a true man," or stop the royal mail ; — but as far as 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 79 

beauty goes, there is abundance on the " debatable land ;" and " by 
the simplicity of Venus' doves !" Tweed, as well as Yarrow, has its 
flowers. 

I have dined with Duke Humphrey, which meaneth I have not dined 
at all. I have gone through the same operation upon nine ounces — the 
commissary called it a pound — of a bullock, which had been on his 
legs an hour before, after travelling .three hundred miles by forced 
marches. I was once feasted in the Guildhall, on Lord Mayor's day — 
and have had the honour of slipping my legs under the mahogany of 
an Archbishop ; but the dinner I shall ever recall to memory with 
greatest pleasure, was that beneath the old ash tree ! my old Peninsular 

companion, M on my right flank ; and Mary — I dare not name 

her — beside me. Oh ! were I younger by thirty years ! But it is una- 
vailing to complain — for all left to a man of sixty, is '' rum and true 
religion." 

"Time and the hour run through the longest day," and even a ket- 
tle must terminate. We parted witli a doch-an-durris, — and while the 
Border maids and matrons, with their admirers and liege lords, proceeded 
to Berwick by land, I placed my destinies at the disposal of Rob Arm- 
strong, and returned to the place from whence I came, as Ophelia in 
the old ballad is said to have gone to Heaven — by water. In this I 
considered I was not doing the adventurous, inasmuch as a man who 
would perpetrate a flirtation at " moonless midnight " in a chamber, well 
known to be in the occupancy of a ghost, might be safely intrusted 
with my person on the Tweed. But there was no danger in the navi- 
gation — it was a sweet evening ; though the lamp of Cynthia struggled 
fitfully through the trees which overhang the stream. But when we 
cleared the wooded banks, 

" I would you had been there to see. 
How the light broke forth so gloriously," 

dancing on the bright surface of the smiling river, and displaying, in 
the distance, the dark outline of the works of Berwick, which once had 
held the array of a kingdom in check, but now could be entered in as 
many points by a single battalion, as there were companies in the 
regiment. 

After I had parted with him in the morning, I heard some interest- 
ing particulars of my friend in the heavy boots, who was now rowing 
me down the Tweed. He and his family were the lineal descendants 
of the last Borderers who signalized themselves after the Union of the 
Crowns. Old Fuller thus quaintly describes these " worthies :" — 
" They are like to Job, not in piety and patience, but in suddain plenty 
and poverty ; sometimes having flocks and herds in the morning, and 
none at night, and perchance many next day. They may give for 
their motto, ' vivilur ex rapto ' — stealing from their honest neighbours 
what they sometimes require. They are a nest of hornets ; strike one, 
and stir all of them about your ears. Indeed, if they promise safely to 
conduct a traveller, they will perform it with the fidelity of a Turkish 
Janissary ; otherwise woe be to him who falleth into their quarters. 



80 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHtlS. 

" They wear a wolf's head," proceedeth the old gentleman, " so 
that they may be lawfully destroyed without any judicial inquisition, as 
who carry their own condemnation about them, and deservedly die with- 
out the law, because they refused to live according to law." 

Now Fuller's legal deductions may be very correct ; but had the 
old chronicler propounded his forensic opinions on the Border, " a 
Lockerby lick " from an Armstrong or an Elliot, would probably have 
closed his literary labours, and left his worthies minus their historian.* 

The last grand movement of the moss-troopers occuri'ed on the 
death of Elizabeth — and while " gentle Jamie " was progressing to 
London, receiving here " a purse of gold," and there " a learned 
oraytion," at one town " a peale of ordinance with bone-fyres," and at 
another " a sermon from Tobie Mathew, Bishop of Durham," with " a 
fair Barbaric horse, in rich furniture suitable," and " deep-mouthed 
hounds and swift haulkes of excellent wings." While these proceed- 
ings were going on, the Borderers, disliking idleness, " Avhen the 
Queen's deathe was knowne," commenced operations on both sides, 
" the which was called the busie week." Lord Hume received in- 
structions to repress them, and he seems to have made an excellent 
selection in appointing " Lord Cranston to bee captayne of the guard ; 
who did so much by his care and vigilance that a number of outlawes 
were brought to the place of execution, where, after lawful assize they 
had a reward for their past follies. Their names and surnames," 
quoth John Monipennie, " for brevity wee omit. Some of them, who 
might have lived upon their rente, if so, they could bee content ; but 
so prone were they to imbred vyce, received from their forefathers, and 
drunken in their adolescencie, they never leaft off their first footsteps 
until they runne headlong to their owne destruction. "f 

Now when gentle Jamie was making a general jail delivery of all 
malefactors, excepting papists and the swell-mob,:j: he surely might 
have permitted the honest Borderers to amuse themselves for a week, 
without resorting to the use of " St. Johnstone's tippet." 

Of such a stock was my Tweed Palinurus, and, if report could be 
credited, he was a true descendant of a family who generally made a 
last visit to Carlisle, " that place where the officer always doth his 
work by daylight," to wit — the hangman. 

It was a singular fact that in this man's family, the Border blood 
appeared unchanged and unchangeable — and of his numerous kinsmen 
the same character was given. They were grateful for a kindness, and 
revengeful if an injury or a slight were offered — none of them ever 
pursued a quiet calling — they were smugglers, privateersmen, poach- 
ers, or salmon-fishers ; but to handicraft pursuits, they had as deep 

» The Worthies of England. 

t Summarie, &c., printed at Brittaine's Bursse, by John Bridge, 1612. 
X " On the 19th day of April, at York, after dinner, his Majestic commanded all 
prisoners to be set at libertie, (wilful murtherers, traytors, and papists being excepted). 

" On the 22nd, at New Warke upon Trent, a cutpurse heere was taken in the act, 
who having great store of gold about him, confessed that hee had convoyed his Majestic 
fi-om Barwickc ; there was a warrand given to hang him, releasing all prisoners be- 
side." — The Roy ale progress of his Sacred Majestic. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. Ql 

aversion as Rob Roy had to article his son Hamish to Baillie Nicol 
Jarvie. Touching the distinction between meum and tuum, their opin- 
ions were held by persons learned in the law to be very erroneous — 
several of the family having from time to time been dispatched to Aus- 
tralasia — and my companion, for stabbing a man in an affray, had been 
accommodated with a free passage to Van Diemen's Land, whence, 
after a residence of seven years, he had returned home the preceding 
autumn. I love to occasionally consort with an intelligent malefactor. 
The first grouse I ever shot was under the tutelage of Shemus Rhua, a 
rebel captain, then an outlaw ; and in latter years, the man who shared 
my bothey in the Irish Highlands, had been thrice convicted of homi- 
cide before he had counted thirty summers. These admissions may 
compromise my character ; and in self-defence, I here solemnly de- 
clare my innocence of manslaughter and mail-coach robbery. And 
lest the gentle reader should lug in the old saw of noscitur e sociis, I beg 
to assure him that I am not of a truculent disposition, and that my walk 
of life has been decidedly anti-felonious. 

With these necessary explanations, I shall give the Borderer's le- 
gend — and although in a Court of Justice, the evidence of a returned 
convict might be questioned, I see no reason to impugn the ghost stoiy 
of Rob Armstrong, a personage who had heard the chimes at midnight, 
with the creaking of a spectre's boots as a fit accompaniment to the 
same. 

As the patois in which the tale was narrated, to a southern reader 
would be unintelligible and require a glossary, I shall render it into the 
vulgar tongue. This liberty I take with Mr. Armstrong, as, like his 
friend William of Deloraine, 

" Letter or line knows he never a one. 
Were it his neck-verse at Harribee," 

and, therefore, I shall be pretty safe from being detected in paraphras- 
ing his " legend wild." 



f 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE LEGEND OF ELMFOED. 



The lawless character which the Border districts had obtained from 
the predatory habits of those who lived 'upon " the debatable land" 
about two centuries ago — about as pleasant and safe a locality as Tip- 
perary is at present — altered after the union of the kingdoms; and it is 
rather questionable, whether the change was much for the better. The 
" vivitur rapina" was exchanged for " dum vivimus vivamus." It was, 
in truth, a drunken and debauched era ; and an Irish squire, a High- 
land laird, and a Border proprietor might have been started even, and 
all safely backed to win in the race of ruin. In Ireland " the dirty acres" 
gradually disappeared, until the heir, like Sir Lucius O'Trigger, had 
nothing to succeed to but his honour and the family pictures. In the 

6 



82 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

Highlands, muir and mountain passed into the hands of " folk and bo- 
dies," who, as the Gael would indignantly observe, had " driven shut- 
tles, and pirned yarn, Cot tarn them !" But on the Celtic race — Irish and 
Highland — rapidly as they decayed, still ruin did not come so sweep- 
ingly and fast, as that which visited the Borderers. An Irish gentleman 
might grind the tenant for a while ; a Highland chieftain now and then 
receive a subsidy from abroad, or levy a trifle of black-mail from the 
Lowlands. But compared with both, the Borderer had formerly an El 
Dorado to resort to ; and as Falstaff reconciled himself to his ragamuf- 
fins, by recollecting that there was " plenty of linen to be found on 
every hedge," so, when the commissariat in a house upon the marshes 
began to exhibit a reduction in its rations, the honest owner blessed 
God that there were grazing farms in Northumberland, and a moonlight 
ride would set matters right again- 

But, after the Union, a distinctive system of meum and tuum was 
introduced, that might be very proper, but found extremely inconve- 
nient. In " lang syne" it was marvellous how far two or three bullocks 
and a score or two of sheep, obtained Heaven only knew how and where, 
went in simplifying house-keeping ; and the new order of " pitch and 
pay" was found generally objectionable. In the good old times, half a 
dozen industrious lads could maintain a Border family most respectably ; 
but now, a midnight ride across the Tweed, would most probably end 
in an exit at Carlisle ; and as Border hospitality survived the means 
which erstwhile had supported it, among many of the oldest and the 
proudest families, acre after acre disappeared, until the broad lands 
were alienated wholly — and even the name, in too many cases, after a 
few years vanished from recollection. 

The ruined house I have described, had passed within a century 
through the possession of four proprietors ; and the last purchaser of 
the estate had risen from humble life by honourable industry, and 
retired from the bustle of the Gallowgate to the quiet of the Border. Mr. 
Anderson was a widower, and the father of an only child — a daughter. 

Neither in face or figure was May Anderson anything remarkable. 
The latter was under-sized, the former rather plain. But a purer mind, 
or gentler temper never gifted woman — while her talents were of the 
highest order — and considering how imperfect the educational system 
of the time was, her acquirements most respectable. When her father 
purchased and took up his residence at Ashford, May was in her 
twentieth year ; and a woman better calculated to gladden the fire- 
side of any man who loved a quiet and a happy home, could not have 
been discovered on the Borders. 

Six months had elapsed since Mr. Anderson had taken possession of 
his acquired property, and Ashford exhibited a very different appear- 
ance to what it did when he first made it his residence. Passing as the 
estate had done through the hands of persons whose embarrassed cir- 
cumstances had forbidden the large outlay which the long-neglected 
mansion and its grounds required, the restoration of the place was 
reserved for the opulent tradesman. The house was now substantially 
repaired, the plantations pruned and fenced in anew, the garden smiled 
again, and all bore striking evidence that opulence and good order had 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 83 

succeeded to riot, poverty, and their consequences — dilapidation and 
decay. 

To one of the branches of the Musgraves, Ashford had for centuries 
belonged. The suppression of Border violence which followed the suc- 
cession of James, and the union of the kingdoms, however, had con- 
cluded their history, as it did that of many of the more important Border 
proprietors. Probably, for a century before, had the laird of Ashford, 
for the time being, " come to book," to use a sporting phrase, the fee- 
simple of the property would not have met its liabilities. But, like 
Connemara of old, v/hen Dick Martin thanked God that the King's writ 
was not worth the paper it was printed on, it would have been a difficult 
matter to collect debts upon the banks of Tweed, for the m^tallique was 
not always obtainable. To make a man do anything " upon compulsion," 
Jack Falstaff rejects altogether — and to call in principal and interest 
from personages who considered it far more correct, 

" Instead of broad pieces, to pay with broad swords," 

would have been both a dangerous and problematical undertaking. A 
threatened lattitat would have had little effect on gentlemen who were 
annually outlawed — and had any of the tribe of Levi showed themselves 
in their vocation upon the Border, their place in the synagogue would 
have been vacant — for the old Borderers had a heait-hatred to Judaism, 
sheriffs' officers, and the discharge of old debts, considering the payment 
of any, save that of nature, as utterly unworthy of a man of spirit. 

The line of the Ashford Musgraves — a family which a century be- 
fore, could have sent fourscore horsemen across the Tweed of a moon- 
light night — had gradually dwindled away in numbers, until William 
Musgrave was the only representative of that branch of an ancient 
name. Report spoke of him unfavourably. He was described as wild 
and dissipated ; and rumour whispered, that all he had inherited from 
his turbulent ancestors, was a reckless disregard of every principle 
which is necessary for the security of life and property. To a youth 
of such disposition, an emeute, like that of the forty-five, would be con- 
genial ; and Musgrave had been out with the young Chevalier. What- 
ever evil qualities he might have had, his loyalty to Prince Charlie was 
devoted. He followed his fortunes after the field of Culloden had sealed 
their ruin ; and for four years, had been an exile with many .other of 
the adherents of the house of Stuart. Gradually the jealousy and ap- 
prehensions of the House of Hanover died away — the cause of the 
Pretender became hopeless — many who had been in arms were per- 
mitted to return ; and rather in the hope than the expectation, of glean- 
ing something from the ruined property which had passed into the hands 
of strangers, William Musgrave received liberty to come home, and 
had arrived on the Borders at the period this story opens. 

Few misfortunes befall men from which, like medicine extracted 
from poisonous flowers, advantage cannot be obtained. Musgrave, the 
attache to what was in reality but the semblance of a Court, had still 
managed to profit by his exile. He was remarkably handsome. At 
twenty-one he followed the disastrous fortunes of the young Pretender, 
a wild, daring, reckless desperado— at twenty-five he returned to his 



84 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

native Border, looser in moral principle, but more dangerous to society 
from polished manners, and the power of masking a vicious disposition 
under a most prepossessing appearance and address. 

William Musgrave did obtain from the delris of his dismembered 
estate a small sum of money, just sufficient to enable him to re-appeai 
on the Borders as a gentleman : and one sweet summer evening, while 
May Anderson was engaged in her flower garden, and her father was 
smoking before the hall-door, " his custom i' the afternoon," a visitor 
was announced, and Musgrave was ushered to the presence of the 
new possessor of Ashford.- 

To both, this unexpected meeting was embarrassing, but both 
determined to overcome it : Anderson by kindness — Musgrave by 
hauteur. 

" You are welcome to this house," said the retired tradesman, cour- 
teously. 

" There was a time I should have been so," was the reply. 

" This is my daughter, Sir." 

Musgrave, with the ease he had acquired at St. Germain's, and 
which the familiarity of the manners of the times permitted, advanced 
and kissed the blushing girl. Poor May ! That ceremonious salute 
proved the opening of a fatal attachment. 

Most hospitably, and with every deference to his feelings, Anderson 
entertained the ruined laird. He was a man of shrewd character and 
sound understanding, and far too wise to act the parvenu proprietor at a 
time, when property still lingered with the aristocracy. In point of 
fact, the most of the Border families were desperately embarrassed, if 
not altogether ruined ; but still they nominally possessed estates from 
which their creditors now, that the order of things had changed and 
right no longer was synonymous with might, were enabled to obtain the 
greater proportion of the income. Still the broken gentlemen looked 
down upon wealth obtained by honourable industry with contempt ; and 
the least assumption of equality, or an attempt to place riches against 
red blood as a set-off, would have elicited as strong an outburst from a 
Borderer, as honest Bailie Nicol Jarvie evoked from his kinsman, the 
Highland cateran, when in return for offering handsomely to take his 
son apprentice without a fee, Rob Roy consigned the worthy magistrate, 
with his looms, treddles and all, to a warmer locality even than the 
West Indies. Mr. Anderson with great tact avoided all appearance of 
display and pretence — kept on the noiseless tenor of his way — offered 
no offence to his fiery neighbours — and in return, escaped those slights 
and insults to which others similarly circumstanced as himself, but 
without his prudence, were continually exposed. 

Musgrave's errand, or pretended errand to Ashford, was to make 
inquiries after two or three family portraits, which he understood had 
been accidentally discovered in a garret. Mr. Anderson told him that 
his information was correct j and leading him to another apartment, he 
pointed to the portraits, cleaned and framed anew, and assured young 
Musgrave that he had only taken possession of these family memorials, 
until he should have an opportunity of restoring them to the lineal de- 
scendant, and now they were heartily at his disposal. This delicate 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 85 

mark of respect to the fallen family was not lost* upon the Borderer — 
and the unpretending hospitality of the host, and the gentle attention of 
his daughter, propitiated one who had never heard the name before- 
mentioned without a burst of anger ; and, late in the evening, he rode 
from the home of his fathers, in a different mood to that in which he 
had approached it in the afternoon. 

An hour's ride brought him to a little inn, where a companion was 
waiting his return over a stoup of Bordeaux wine. He was a High- 
lander ; a short, stout, square-built man of thirty, with fiery-red 
hair, a slight obliquity of vision, and a face whose ensemble was de- 
cidedly repulsive. MacDougal, like his friend Musgrave, had followed 
the fortunes of the exiled family — had starved at St. Germains — ob- 
tained permission to return to Scotland — and visited the " land of brown 
heath," with as little hope, and much less good luck than his friend, the 
Borderer. Small as the harvest reaped on the Border was by Mus- 
grave, that gleaned in the Highlands by MacDougal was much less. 
The family property had been demolished, root and branch, and not a 
wreck remained. In a word, the fortune and influence of his name had 
been annihilated. 

Muttering a Celtic curse, he finished the stoup before him, called 
loudly for another, Eind then demanded what had detained his companion 
so long. 

" Long !" returned the Borderer ; " I should have accepted my 
host's invitation, and remained there for the night, only I knew that thou 
wouldst be growling like a maimed bear." 

" And did the churl ask thee in ?" 

" Ay, that he did ; and entertained me right hospitably. I rode to 
my father's door with every feeling of hatred for its possessors. I left 
it, half- reconciled to him, and half-inclined to make love to his daughter." 

" And what may she be like ?" 

" A woman without a single pretension to beauty — and yet one that 
a man might love." 

" How looked the auld place ? Not like my ancient home — a place 
without a roof — a hearth without a fire," And springing from his 
chair the red MacDougal strode through the chamber, uttering Gaelic 
imprecations. 

" I should have scarcely known it, Angus ; house, garden, grounds, 
all renovated — all cultured well. Every room bears the mark of 
opulence — the sideboard is loaded with silver ; the servants are neat 
and orderly ; and the stall my horse was led to, thou and I might 
sleep in. I never saw such nowt as the maids were milking in the 
close ; and the very yard-dog shows that he has neither Lent nor 
maigre-day. In a word, all in and about the house betokens quiet, 
wealth, and comfort." 

" And did the carl bid thee welcome ; was the wench civil ; and in 
their hearts did they not devoutly wish thee at the devil ?" 

" No, Angus ; there seems not a particle of jealousy towards my- 
self; and my sire, my grandsire, and Black Richard are hanging from 
the walls of the drawing-room, with more gold about their canvass than 
I conscientiously believe the united purses of the three would have pro- 



86 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

duced at any period of their lives. Damnation ! would that I had been 
warned by thee, Angus, I could — nay, deem it not vanity — have been 
master of my own again." 

" How ?" exclaimed the impatient Highlander. 

" By enacting the same mummery with May Anderson, that I went 
through with Claudine Dubreton !" 

" Thou would'st rival royalty, forsooth !" returned the Highlander, 
" and have thy plaything at her own price. She turned thy folly to 
account ; and thou wert dolt enough, to wed beauty and beggary. 
Well, you found out and proved the proverb — ' When poverty came in, 
love took its departure ;' and the close of the honeymoon was the signal 
for a separation." 

" Too true — too true, Angus." 

" But think ye, you could win the wench ?" 

" She's half won already, if I know aught of woman." 

" Win her all out then," exclaimed the red MacDougal. " None 
know, save three or four beside myself, aught of your marriage with 
Claudine. She is in France, and thou in Scotland ; and even did she 
discover that thou had'st comforted thyself with another wife, why, God's 
mercy ! she will console herself with another lover," 

It would be a very doubtful question to decide, whether Musgrave 
or his adviser were the greater profligate. Both were ruined men — and 
May Anderson and her fortune appeared to be thrown as a god-send in 
the way. The Highlander's sporran did not contain a solitary coin ; 
the Borderer's pocket would not stand a month's demands. Want of 
principle and poverty went hand in hand ; and Anderson and his inno- 
cent child were marked unscrupulously by " the ruffians twain," for 
ruin. 

The progress of this unhallowed suit it will not be necessary to de- 
tail ; and Musgrave won a heart, than which a warmer and a purer 
never throbbed in woman's breast. No man exists without some weak 
point, and Mr. Anderson's was pardonable. To make a fortune is gen- 
erally followed by a wish to found a name. His daughter's union with 
the heir of Ashford would countervail the obscurity of May's birth, and 
give her that position in Border society, that even wealth could not com- 
mand. Musgrave played a cautious game — May would listen to no tale 
to his disadvantage — and her father succeeded in persuading himself 
that if his youth were wild and dissipated, his manhood had become re- 
formed. Musgrave's addresses were therefore favourably received ; and 
May Anderson was united in form to a man, who was already married 
to another. 

Too soon Anderson found reason to repent the selection he had made 
in choosing a son-in-law ; and poor May had cause to suspect, that she 
had listened to protestations of love which were " false as dicer's oaths." 
Ashford was " disturbed from its propriety ;" and a house where quiet 
and comfort had reigned before, became the haunt of the drunken and 
the dissolute. Remonstrance from Mr. Anderson was met by indiffer- 
ence or insult, according to the mood in which Musgrave chanced to be ; 
and his mild and patient wife had her gentle reasonings coarsely repelled 
by the savage to whom she fancied she was wedded, and heard the bru- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. §7 

tal declaration from her husband, that his heart was in another land. 
Heart ! the ruffian had none. 

One morning the wretched girl was summoned to her father's closet, 
and there found the old man booted and ready for a journey. *' Close 
the door, May, although we have no reason to dread listeners — for 'tis 
scarce two hours, as they tell me, since the beastly revelry of Musgrave 
and his blackguard comrades terminated ; and, for half the day to come, 
their drunken slumbers will continue. I am bound for Edinburgh, bent 
thither on important business ; but it were an idle waste of time, unless 
I received thy assurance, that thou wilt carry out the object I go there 
to execute." 

" Alas ! my father, my misplaced love has embittered thy declining 
years. Ask anything of me ; breathe but thy wishes ; and as I hope 
for patience in affliction here, and mercy in a better world hereafter, thy 
commands shall be regarded by thy daughter as second only to those 
issued for her guidance by the great Author of us all." 

" Enough ; — I go to make an alteration in my will. I possess the 
power of leaving thyself absolute mistress of all I have earned by hon- 
est industry. Ay, from that park which Jock Ploughman is turning 
over, even to yonder pigeon which is cooing on the dove-cot. All, May, 
shall be bequeathed to thee ; and all I ask from thee is a promise, that 
that thou wilt retain them in thy power — full, unchallengeable, absolute 
power. Dole to that bad and wretch^^d man what may seem good to 
thee ; but mind the last wishes of a father — the injunction thou promis- 
ed sacredly to obey. Let neither threat, promise, or persuasion, induce 
thee to give thy husband authority to slay a chicken, or even cut a ber- 
ry-bush." 

" All this — and by all my hopes of mercy ! I undertake to do," re- 
plied the daughter. 

" Then God bless and protect thee ! I wanted this assurance, for I 
go to do an act that prudence demands, and which some whispering at 
my heart tells, will nevertheless prove unfortunate ! Once more, God 
bless thee !" 

He said — strained his weeping daughter to his bosom — and in a min- 
ute or two the clatter of a horse's foot upon the paved court-yard, an- 
nounced that the Lord of Ashford had departed. 



CHAPTER XIIL 



" Angus," said Musgrave, when a brandered fowl had been remov- 
ed, and which was rather calculated to produce thirst than abate hun- 
ger, from the hot condiments the cook had introduced, to stimulate un- 
duly stomachs of men whom debauchery and excess had rendered in- 
sensate to healthier and simpler viands, " pass the claret. What think 
ye of this sudden movement of the old carl ? It bodes us little good, I 
trow." 



'88 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" On that point you may rest certain, Musgrave. How feels the 
girl ?" 

" Intractable as the devil himself. Her very nature appears to have 
undergone a change," was the reply. " When I rose this evening, I 
saw an empty purse upon the table ; and remembering that the Jed- 
burgh race and the Kelso cock-fights come off next week, and supposing 
that we must be there — " 

" Supposing !" exclaimed the Highlander. " Cot dam — I would'na 
lose either for the old weaver's neck." 

" Nor I," returned Musgrave, " were that the choice between them. 
Well, attend to me. I sent for May ; her tire-woman answered, that 
her mistress was busily engaged. As I had an object to obtain, I 
smothered pride, and condescended to go to her own apartment. What 
was my reception, guess ye ?" 

" Oh ! tears and reproaches of course ; and an entreaty that you 
would give up bad compay — thereby meaning me — and avoid late 
hours — and that means going to bed as we did at nine o'clock this 
morning ; and a — " 

"No — no — by Heaven!" exclaimed Musgrave, passionately. 
" Neither remonstrance was made nor advice offered me. She was 
writing, and scarcely deigned to raise her eyes. In man, and less in 
woman, I can scarcely brook indifference ; and as I wanted a favour 
from her, I thought it would choke me as I expressed it. I did, however, 
muster words to ask her to get me twenty pieces from the old fellow. 
Wot ye what her answer was ? Listen. She, who formerly smiled 
did I but notice her — and when I played truant never reproached me 
but with a tear — who would listen at her open casement, and out- watch 
the moon, expecting my return — and when my horse-tramp fell upon 
her ear, bless Heaven that she was once more happy — " 

" Pshaw ! — a truce with her former folly, and keep thee to what 
concerns us more than the idle fantasies of a love-struck wench. To 
the point, my friend . When thou asked the money, what was the an- 
swer ?" said the red Highlander, impatiently. 

" I'll give it thee in her own words : ' Were I inclined to comply 
with the request you have made of me, it would not be possible, inas- 
much as about the hour you retired to bed this forenoon, my father set 
off for Edinburgh. But — I scorn to conceal my thoughts — were he 
here, I might comply, as, in a wife's duty, I should feel bounden to 
obey my husband's mandate ; but at the same time, I would, as a 
daughter, counsel him not to waste his substance, humbly but honestly 
earned as it was, to maintain discreditable outlaws, and support profli- 
gate companions.' " 

" That was a lunge direct at me," exclaimed MacDougal. 
" Patience, friend Angus, the worst is yet to come. I blazed up, 
while she remained cool as an icicle. I threatened to go to the German 
wars, and she replied, that ' any change in my course of life would 
probably be for the better.' What think ye of that ?" 

" Why, I think that we are as nearly done up as we can be. What 
next ?" 

" I got enragi, became silly, I admit — swore that I would deeply 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. §9 

recollect the slight she had passed upon me ; and that when her weaver- 
father died, the next Yule afterwards, I would have at my Christmas 
table a goose that had grazed upon his grave;" 

" By our Lady ! a sillier boast never passed the lips of a sane man f 
What next ?" 

" ' Indeed !' she said ; ' it was well you chose the kirkyard on which 
to feed your poultry : for after to-morrow evening — were it but the 
pasturage of a kid — rest convinced you will have no right to that in 
Ashford. My father will make that secure enough : and before the 
next week passes — ' 

" And shall I not succeed to what was my father's ?" 

" ' I know nothing you are certain to succeed to, except the clothes 
you wear : and those same, my poor deluded parent paid for. Excuse 
me. Sir, I'm busied writing. This is my father's house : these rooms 
are viine. The cellar remains unlocked ; use the privilege for the time. 
Drink, Sir, and deeply as you please : you may, ere long, find wine 
not readily procurable.' " 

" By Heaven, you amaze me !" exclaimed the red MacDougal. " I 
should have just as soon expected to have seen a canary bird assail a 
cat, as that milk-and-water wench turn upon thee. What did ye ?" 

" What could I do — but sneak from the room, scarcely crediting the 
evidence of my own senses. The change of being was so sudden and 
so marvellous ! What devil is in the wind, Angus ?" 

" The devil, indeed !" returned Musgrave's companion. " I think 
there are not a couple of private gentlemen from the Pentland to the 
Tweed, more regularly ruined. D — n that piece of folly ! When you 
have half a-dozen drappies in, as a wet night I'equires a man should 
have to steady himself next morning, you have no more brains than a 
woodcock. ' Rest assured, that self-same Christmas goose you spoke of, 
will cost you many a gold Jacobus.'* But what the devil is to be 

done ?" 

****** 

Three hours elapsed ; and what was to be done became a very 
puzzling question, and one very difficult to be decided. After much 
deliberation, a course was resolved upon, and MacDougal departed at 
midnight, attended by two Musgraves of low caste and evil reputation. 
The irregular movements of the red Highlander and his associates 
occasioned no surprise. MacDougal had gone, as it was supposed, to 
attend some cock-fight, or blackguard meeting — and the only wonder 
was, that his friend Musgrave had remained behind. 

At this extraordinary era, duration of life was in as blessed 
uncertainty, as it is at present in Tipperary. In the English capital, 
men were nightly " stabbed i' th' dark :" in the Irish, they were sped 
in mid-day; and no inquiry was instituted regarding the demise of a 
gentleman,! after the nearest apothecary had pronounced him to be 

* This singular phrase was used by an Irish spendthrift to an aged uncle, who de- 
clined his repeated applications for money ; and the old gentleman married at eighty- 
two, had a male heir, and cut the roue off from succession. 

t The state of society in the Irish capital, and the value at which human life was 
estimated " sixty years ago," may be correctly ascertained from the following anec- 



90 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" past praying for ;" while old Auld Reekie, in its wynds and closes, 
afforded an immense conveniency to the assassin, and a gentleman 
might, as quacks remedy diseases, " be removed with secrecy and 
dispatch." 

Four days had elapsed since MacDougal had departed, none knew 
and none cared whither ; and in two more. May expected her father 
from Edinburgh. She and her putative husband now lived totally 
apart ; and it would appear that neither had the slightest wish or inten- 
tion to return to more amicable relations. The fifth and sixth day 
passed, and Mr. Anderson had named the evening of the latter, as that 

dote, which was told the author by a gentleman still living, who actually witnessed the 
transaction. It will be necessary to acquaint the reader that Dublin was then infested 
with gangs of well-bom, well-dressed, idle blackguards, members of the Hell-fire and 
Cherokee Clubs, who were a disgrace to their own order, and a terror to every other. 
These vagabonds rendered the streets insecure — and a peaceable citizen or country 
gentleman could scarcely venture into a coffee-house, without being exposed to insult 
or assault from these lawless bullies, whom the defective police arrangements of that 
time, allowed to run riot with impunity. I forget the name of the coffee-house — one 
probably extinguished a quarter of a century since — but it was then a fashionable 
house, and one to which these disorderly personages resorted. 

" I was sitting," said Mr. Beresford, " after dinner, in the public room, discussing 
my bottle of claret — and at the different tables, at least a score of persons were col- 
lected, when a fellow of the order then termed ' Bucks,' threw open the folding-doors 
of the coffee-room. His name was Fenton. He was showily dressed, wore an em- 
broidered waistcoat, point ruffles, cocked hat, and a small rapier. He flung his hat 
and cane upon the table, looked superciliously around him at the company, and called 
for claret, which was brought him. 

" ' Waiter,' he said affectedly, ' was that d — d scoundred, Dick Daly, here this 
evening V 

" ' No, Sir.' 

" ' Cursed sorry I did not find him, as I wish to cane the blackguard incontinently.' 

" The words had scarcely passed his lips, when the folding-doors were opened, and 
a personage, dressed in the most extravagant style of fashion, swaggered in. His 
costume was similar to Mr. Fenton's — but instead of a small sword, the weapon at his 
side had a crooked blade, then considered more fashionable among the bloods of the 
day, and termed a couteau de chasse. The new comer was Mr. Daly — and it appeared 
that his errand was to operate on the person of Mr. Fenton. ' Scoundrel' and ' liar' 
were instantly interchanged. Out flew both blades from their scabbards ; a fight com- 
menced, and not a man of twenty present, attempted to interfere. Daly was the 
stronger, Fenton the better armed — and evading the rush of his opponent, he retreated 
to an inner door. Just as he entered the passage, he of the couteau de chasse struck 
furiously at his antagonist — the point of the sabre cutting the architrave of the door, 
an inch above Fenton's head. The civility, at the same instant, was returned with a 
home sioccata from the small sword, which pafesed clean through Daly's body, and he 
dropped, a dead man, upon the floor. Mr. Fenton quietly withdrew the reeking blade, 
wiped it across the coat of his fallen opponent, returned it to the scabbard, stepped 
coolly across the bleeding corpse, bowed politely to the company, and departed, none 
present either asking a question, or offering to bar his egress. The whole affair was 
transacted within a minute, for 

" Few were the words, and stern and high," 
which preluded an encounter, that like a fox-chase, proved 'short, sharp, and decisive.' 

" At the next table to that where I was drinking my claret, a respectable country 
gentleman was busy with his soup. He never put down his spoon — but turning his 
eyes from the dead man on the floor, to the deep sabrercut over the doorway, he quietly 
observed, ' Lord ! what a pity that Dick Daly struck an inch or two too high, or, by 
Saint Patrick ! the world would have been delivered of two of the most troublesome 
scoundrels in existence. Waiter, you may remove the soup !' " 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 91 

on which his daughter might expect him. The window of ner private 
chamber commanded the Edinburgh road for a mile — and there May 
sat, watching for a distant view of the parent she loved so fondly, as 
his well-known figure would top the distant height. Presently, a horse- 
man showed himself upon the hill : — was he the expected one ? Oh, 
no. His pace was too hurried for the sober amble which her father 
seldom exceeded in his journeyings. Right for Ashford rode the horse- 
man — plunged into the river, although the bridge was within half a 
mile — he clattered into the court-yard, and sprang hastily from his 
reeking horse. He spoke rapidly, and but one sentence ; and a man 
who had gone forward to take his horse started back in horror ; while 
a female domestic who was accidentally within hearing, gave a scream. 
He was, indeed, the bearer of sorry news — the evening before, Mr, 
Anderson, in returning to his lodgings at the Gallowgate, had been 
stabbed, on the second landing of the house, to the heart.* Robbery 
was not the motive — for his watch and money had not been abstracted 
by the murderers, and the cause of the assassination remained a mys- 
tery. The perpetrators were unknown ; and all that could even induce 
a suspicion was, that " a wee-bit lassie " had seen three strangers on 
the turnpike a while before, and she could only tell, that one of them 
was red-headed. 

Two days after the sad intelligence reached Ashford, the body of 
the murdered man was brought home, " and it was laid in the little 
vault at the bottom of the garden, which I showed you, Colonel, this 
morning." , 

The shock which this terrible and unexpected calamity occasioned 
to his attached daughter may be well imagined ; but no noisy ebulli- 
tions of sorrow escaped her — for hers 

" Was the composure of settled distress." 

Musgrave assumed ' the inky cloak,' that mockery of mourning ; 
but many circumstances in his bearing, indicated too plainly that his 
pretended sorrow was put on. His nights, as usual, were spent in 
drunken revelry — and poor May's silent and unobtrusive grief was too 
frequently disturbed by the distant uproar of the drunken orgies, which 
occasionally reached her solitary chamber from the hall below. Mus- 
grave now assumed the master ; and, as such, he found no difficulty in 
raising supplies for the extravagance of himself and his dissolute com- 
panions, by selling cattle, and borrowing money from the tenants, who 
looked upon him as their lord ; while poor May was too deeply immersed 
in sorrow, to either hear or heed the wasteful means, by which her 
profligate husband recruited his exhausted treasury. 

It was on the seventh evening after Mr. Anderson had been con- 
signed to a bloody tomb, that two strangers arrived at Ashford. Their 
routes, their errands, their appearance, were particularly dissimilar. 
One came from the south, and his visit was to the laird. The other 
arrived by the northern road, and his business was with the lady. The 

* It is, I believe, not more than twenty years since, that a bank-porter was mur- 
dered and robbed at mid-day in one of the Edinburgh closes, and neither the assassin ' 
Bor the property have ever been discovered. 



91^^' HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

southern stranger was but a lad, extremely handsome, and showy in his 
dress and appointments. The northern visitor, on the contrary, was a 
gray-headed man, soberly attired, and apparently the member of some 
learned profession. Both, on their arrival, were conducted to the apart- 
ments of those whom the}- inquired for. When the graver visitor was 
introduced to the lady's closet — an apartment thus designated at the 
time, but which is novv more fashionably called " a boudoir," right 
gladly was he received, for the mourner flung herself upon his neck, 
and wept upon his bosom. 

" Friend of my father !" and sobs interrupted the words of welcome 
that hung upon her lips. 

" Not a friend of thy father now, May ! but, thy father — " said the 
old man, as he folded her in his arms. " I would have been with thee 
sooner, but this desperate transaction for days unmanned me ; and then 
I thought it better not to intrude too hastily upon thy grief. In sooth, 
another week should have most likely passed, before I made this mourn- 
ful visit ; but accounts reached me of certain unwarranted acts upon 
thy husband's part, which, as thy sole and absolute guardian, it is my 
bounden duty to restrain." 

" I know not aught of what of late has passed, or even of what may 
now be passing. My thoughts are yonder," and she pointed to the 
vault before the window. 

" 1 can well fancy your indifference, my child, to worldly matters ;" 
said the old man ; " but rumour flies — and I hear that the unhappy man 
you wedded, assumes rights, and wastes property, idly supposing that 
in right of his marriage with you, he has some power over your late 
father's property ; and I have come hither specially to undeceive him. 
The morning of that sad evening, when your lamented father met his 
death — I look back upon it yet as but a dream — I witnessed the final 
disposition of his property. All, May, is left absolutely in your own 
power — and Musgrave's marital influence is utterly extinguished. 
There is a copy of the deed — the last document that your murdered 
parent ever laid a pen to." 

** Would he had never left home upon the fatal errand. But thy 
will be done !" and the mourner meekly raised her eyes to heaven. 

" May," said Mr. Cameron, as the guardian of the orphaned girl 
was called, " I must away to-morrow by times, to speed some business 
of mine own in Northumberland — and it would be prudent before I go, 
to warn thy prodigal and profligate lord, that he has no more power than 
the meanest hind upon thy property, and that for the food he eats and 
the clothing he may require, he must be indebted to thy charity. 
Hark ! to that noisy burst of drunken revelry, and in the house that 
death has visited so awfully ! 'Tis incredible in a Christian land, and 
it must be repressed. Send Janet, to that monster in the shape of man, 
and say that one desires to speak with him on important business," 

The little bell upon the table was sounded, and a female attendant 
answered its summons from the ante-room. 

" Go, Janet, tell Mr. Musgrave that my guardian would speak with 
him instantly. It is matter that will not brook delay." 
. The lady's tire-woman bowed and left the room. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. gjf 

I mentioned that a south-country stranger had arrived — a young 
and handsome gentleman ; and when he alighted in the court-yard, 
Musgrave and his red friend, the Highlander, were in deep conclave 
over a stoup of Burgundy. 

" The old carl had an indifferent good taste for wine," said Mus- 
grave, as he sipped the liquor. " You say, Angus, that the job was 
troublesome ?" 

" Troublesome ! Call it by the right name — desperate," returned 
MacDougal. " Think ye that it was still daylight — a crowded wynd 
— on every flat a family — and yet to strike him to the heart, and pass 
into the street unchallenged and unnoticed — " 

" Here's to thee, my stout friend. D — n me, we'll make the world 
wag merrily, so long as we can muster the broad pieces and retain the 
broad lands. How now, wench, what brings ye here ?" 

" I come," said the tire-woman, " to say that my mistress requests 
your presence instantly, and that her guardian has arrived." 

" Part of thy message is bootless, and the other false," replied Mus- 
grave, as he turned down a glass of Burgundy. " I am engaged, and 
therefore cannot come. I am thy lady's guardian, and ergo — as they 
said at school — she can have none save one. I would not intrude upon 
her grief at present ; it would only awake mine own afresh. Go !" 

Ere the attendant had closed the door, both scoundrels burst into a 
fit of laughter ; when a second servant interrupted their merriment, 
by announcing that a young gentleman desired an instant audience. 

" Who, or what is he ?" 

" That he will tell himself," returned the voice of the person, as he 
entered the apartment and closed the door behind him. Advancing to 
the table, he coolly removed his hat. 

" By heaven !" exclaimed Musgrave and his companion together, 
" it is Claudine Dubreton !" 



CHAPTER XIV. 



" Claudine, what brought thee hither ?" exclaimed Musgrave, as he 
gazed in astonishment on the pseudo gallant, who sported rapier and 
spur, and in bearing was insolent enough for a modern valet. 

" What brings me ! Dost thou ask it ? Why I come to claim a lov- 
ing husband. What brought me — was a smuggling lugger to Eymouth 
— and a post-horse from Berwick-upon-Tweed. Gad's mercy ! I started 
from France in good time, too — for I hear that some kind friend nicked a 
throat that stood a little in the way. Will ; and that a pint or two of 
blood has made thee lord paramount over all here." 

" Claudine, be cautious : these words are dangerous. Thou must 
preserve a strict incognita — leave this house to-morrow, and — " 

" Leave thee in quiet possession of thy new love and new estate. 
Not I, by heaven!" and the stranger struck the table. " No, Mus- 
grave, I shared thy poverty until sheer starvation made me throw my* 



94 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

self upon my kindred, for that support which thou couldst not supply 
me with. I passed a stormy ordeal, and now I'll bask me in the sun- 
shine. Here am I — and here I shall remain." 

" Leave us a while, MacDougal, I will explain to Claudine the un- 
certainty of my position. Then let her inquire of thee, and thy corro- 
boration shall satisfy her that all I shall have stated is correct." 

The red Highlander rose and quitted the apartment, and left the 
husband and wife together. Mutual recriminations passed — for the 
conduct of both had been censurable. Neither were burthened with a 
particle of principle. Musgrave urged necessity in plea of his trans- 
gression, and Claudine was ready to receive it in apology. Between 
the guilty, a moral lapse is easily reconciled' — the wine passed freely — 
and ere half an hour had passed away, Claudine was seated on her hus- 
band's knee. 

" And thou dost not, in honest truth, then, love her, Musgrave ?" 

" Not I, by all the saints ! I hated her from the first ; her very 
smiles were sickening, and her kisses worse than poison." 

" 'Tis well," returned the lady ; " I would not tamely have brooked 
a rival. I can hate as well as love ; and had I found that thou had'st 
flung me off, and that passion and not poverty had caused it, this small 
phial would have avenged the insult." 

" In the devil's name, what is it ?" And Musgrave took a diminu- 
tive bottle in his hand, which Claudine had drawn from her bosom. 

" The deadliest poison that ever the laboratory of an alchymist pro- 
duced," was the reply. " Three drops are sufficient to destroy the 
strongest — and the victim will not carry life to the ground." 

" By heaven ! I hate drugs — not that I matter knife or pistolet were 
an enemy or a rival in the road. I'll put it aside. We'll only talk of 
love, Claudine, to-night ; to-morrow we'll talk of business." 

If ever Musgrave felt more strongly for one woman than another, it 
was for Claudine Dubreton. She was as beautiful as bad ; and as she 
had opened the fastenings of her doublet, and the removal of her hat had 
allowed her profuse black hair to stream down her shoulders to 
the waist, the finely-formed throat and bosom appeared additionally 
white, from the contrast of the dark tresses which but partially conceal- 
ed them. Her arm was round Musgrave's neck — her lips were pressed 
to his — when silently the door unclosed, and May Anderson and her 
guardian were standing at their side, before the guilty pair were ap- 
prized that the bolt of the lock had turned. 

^ 4= 4: % 4c 4i !|t 

When the insolent answer to her message was communicated to the 
lady of the mansion and her father's friend by the indignant tire- wo- 
man, a long deliberation ensued as to the course which appeared most 
prudential to pursue. Whether to quit the house herself, and repairing 
to the Scottish capital, there place herself under protection of the 
Courts — or expel Musgrave from Ashford, and employ legal force, if 
necessity required it, were points that were cautiously debated. 

" On one point. May, " continued the old gentleman, " my opinion 
is formed. The sooner this wretched profligate knows his true position 
the better j and I would counsel that, as he lacks courtesy to attend 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 95 

you, we repair at once together to the hall, and in the presence of his 
ruffian associate, of whom, touching your father's death, I harbour 
dark suspicions — at once apprize him that the imaginary rights of a hus- 
band must be exchanged for such eleemosynary bounty as, in thy 
charity, thou may'st be pleased to confer upon the outcast." 

" I bow to thy judgment. Sir — and we will at once get over this 
painful, but prudent interview." 

May Anderson imagined that she knew the full extent of her hus- 
band's worthlessness. She felt that her affections had been misplaced, 
her confidence abused, and she attributed the death of her father indi- 
rectly to the criminal career of the roui who had first won her love, and 
afterwards disdainfully rejected it. But that he would insult her by 
the introduction of a courtesan — mock the memory of her father, ere 
the grave had scarcely closed upon him — outrage every ordinance, hu- 
man and divine — this thought never crossed her mind. When she de- 
scended the stairs, she was prepared to find him employed at the wine- 
cup with his profligate companion ; but when she saw him with a rival 
in his arms, without an attempt at "concealment, in broad day, and in 
her own hall — that discovery was indeed astounding. 

When a mild, enduring disposition is roused by repeated injury 
to resentment, indignation may not be so violently expressed, but it will 
be more permanent than that of a fiery temper, easily excited, and as 
easily appeased. 

" Good God ! can I credit the evidence of my own senses ?" ex- 
claimed Mr. Cameron, recoiling back from the centre of the room ; 
" and can human profligacy reach thus far ?" 

Claudine sprang from her lover's knee, and hurrying to the window, 
hastily closed the doublet round . her throat, and endeavoured to gather 
up her dishevelled tresses, and hide them beneath her riding cap — while 
Musgrave, astounded at the presence of her he had so fearfully deceived, 
was speechless. But, strange as it might appear. May Anderson re- 
tained her firmness through the scene. 

" And was this needed," she said, in calm, deliberate accents, ad- 
dressing the guilty man ; " was this needed to complete the measure of 
your villany ? Would it not content you, under the false pretence of 
love, to win a too-confiding heart, and then lacerate it by unmerited 
neglect ? Would it not suffice to destroy the peaceful happiness that 
reigned in this quiet dwelling — sadden the declining years of a loved 
parent with unavailing sorrow — and may Heaven pardon me if I wrong 
thee by the thought, cause by thy profligate proceedings a journey that 
proved fatal, if indeed thou didst not abet his murder. Thou would'st 
add insult too — and that under a roof where thy wretched dupe rules 
paramount. Ay, stare not, but mark the word well, paramount — abso- 
lute — sole mistress. Thou hast dared to introduce a thing unchaste, a 
wanton ; one who feeling she has become a disgrace to woman, has, 
with woman's purity, abandoned the very garb a woman wears. And 
this, too, in the presence of a wife ! Infamous villain ! thy wife knows, 
despises, and abandons thee !" 

She turned, and was about to leave the room, when Claudine, whose 
excitable temper had been stimulated by the wine with which Musgrave 



96 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

and she had sealed their reconciliation, and irritated by the presence of 
one who had nominally usurped her place, and expressed opinions 
which her guilty conscience would have admitted true, but which a 
proud, bad woman like herself found, for that very cause, intolerable, 
sprang forwards from the window, and laid her hand upon the shoulder 
of the retiring lady. Starting, as if in contact with some reptile, May 
Anderson indignantly exclaimed : 

" Off, thou impure thing — thy touch is poisonous. Go — press these 
arms around that heart-struck felon — my honorable and respected hus- 
band will duly estimate thy chaste embrace. I am hut a wife.^' 

" Woman — thou art no wife, and thou, not I, art Musgrave's mis- 
iress," exclaimed Claudine with flashing eyes. 

" Ah ! what say'st thou ?" exclaimed Mr. Cameron. 

" The truth ! look there. He will not dare gainsay it. / am his 
wife, and thou," and she looked contemptuously on poor May, " thou, 
pattern of purity ! art but his leman !" 

Musgrave's was guilty courage. In a quarrel his blade was ready ; 
to cooler blood-shedding he had slight compunction, but the sudden 
discovery of his ruffian conduct, the consequences, penal and pecuniary, 
which he knew must attend it — all struck home to his guilty soul ; — 
and a man, generally remarkable for hardiesse and effrontery, seemed 
as if he had been paralyzed. 

May Anderson, like one who questioned the evidence of her senses, 
leaned for support against a high-backed chair ; while her guardian 
addressed the stranger. 

" Let me understand thee correctly," he said, " art thou in truth 
married to him ? When did that ceremony take place ! Where — " 

Claudine impatiently interrupted him, and plucking a paper from 
her bosom, she put it into Mr. Cameron's hand. 

" There, read that document carefully, and in it all the information 
you require will be found." 

Musgrave, for the first time, appeared to recover self-possession ; he 
sprang from the chair and ejaculating " Claudine, thou hast ruined me !" 
hurried from the chamber. 

******* 

There is an extent to which human resolution reaches which cannot 
be exceeded. The tension of the nerves, when overwrought, gives 
way ; reaction succeeds, and hope and heart yield together. May An- 
derson bore up bravely while the full measure of Musgrave's villany 
was detected and confirmed. But, when she reached her private apart- 
ments, the woman returned — and the indignant feeling of outraged 
confidence, sank into the distress that one would feel, who had within 
so brief a space been called upon to lament the loss of a dead father, 
and worse still, a living husband. Mr. Cameron had instantly departed, 
to take prompt means to eject Musgrave from a place to which he had 
now no claim whatever ; and while the ill-used lady gave way to grief 
that admitted no consolation in her own chamber — the ruffian who had 
foully dishonoured her of a maiden's fame, and invaded her .father's 
" house of life," in the hall below, held secret conclave with his guilty 
companions. In this his hour of difficulty, and frame of mind, two 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. gy 

better emissaries of the arch-enemy of mankind could not have been 
found, for what Claudine would unscrupulously advise, MacDougal 
would as unscrupulously execute. 

" Claudine," said Musgrave, as he filled a bumper to the brim, " I 
drink to thee — nevertheless thou hast ruined us beyond redemption." 

" Ay," said the red MacDougal, " touching that there can be little 
question. The thread we relied upon, thou hast severed. There was 
a noble stake to be won or lost, and fortunately and desperately the first 
throw came off. A little patience, a little management — these were 
only needed, and the ball would have rolled right. Damnation ! thy 
cursed jealousy flung down the towering edifice, and the winning card 
■ passed directly into hands that won't throw away the advantage." He 
filled his glass. " Where shall we have a stoup this time to-morrow 
evening ? Heaven knows where !" 

" Why — why act so suddenly ?" inquired Claudine. " There may 
be time to remedy a mistake." 

" To remedy the devil !" returned the irritated Highlander. " What- 
ever chances we might have had of playing on that soft girl's feelings, 
or, at the worst, of carrying off property — it is over. Thou hast made 
him a felon" — he pointed to Musgrave — '* a bigamist ; 'twas all the old 
carl wanted. Musgrave, thanks to thy folly, must off ere morning, or 
else he will be in Carlisle within the week — ay, and forwarded to the 
plantations, after the next judge comes round." 

" What means bigamy ?" said Claudine sharply. 

" It means," replied the Highlander, " the crime a man commits, 
who has already a loving wife like thee, and intermarries with another. 
All necessary to establish his guilt, is the evidence which thou hast 
effectually supplied. Well, where will lie the profit of this feat ? Thou 
hast, certes, for the present, the honour of a pauper husband — and 
May Anderson will soon replace the loss — for fifteen thousand English 
pounds do not go long a begging on the Border ; and May is as free 
as air." 

" Must both wives be alive ?" asked Claudine. 

" Yes. How else could a man have two ?" 

" And would the removal of one of them avert the penal conse- 
quences ?" inquired the lady. 

" Undoubtedly," returned the Highlander. " Evidence were in 
that case wanted. Art thou sleeping, Musgrave ? By Heaven ! I 
think all thy energies are gone. The business might yet be remedied." 

" No, no," returned the wretched man ; " it is too late — too late. 
The sheriff and his followers will be here no doubt, to-morrow, and 
then—" 

" What then ?" asked MacDougal. 

" Just what you predicted a minute since." 

" To convict for bigamy it seems, both wives must be alive. Might 
not one die suddenly ? Ha !" 

" No — no — no. The father — the father — that was enough. But 
— but — self preservation — yes ! that is a safe argument. Angus, my 
friend, wilt thou ?" and he paused. 

" Will I do what ?" replied the Highlander. 

7 



98 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" There is a room at the end of the gallery up stairs — and once 
within it ; and — and — " 

" You would murder again by proxy," said MacDougal with a 
sneer. " Not I, by the living Lord ! I struck for thee the boldest 
stroke that ever Auld Reekie witnessed. I'll no more of it. No ! — 
An thou can'st not save thyself, why — " 

" Musgrave !" exclaimed Claudine passionately, " When I knew 
thee first, thou used to brave it with the best. Thou crossed blades 
with Melmonte and d'Aubigny ; and two more noble swordsmen France 
could not produce. Art thou distrait — impotent of mind ? In the 
devil's name, what has bewitched thee ?" 

'Tis said that the enemy of man is ever in attendance when evoked 
by the wicked, and ready to confirm the guilty purpose of the desperate 
wretch who hesitates. The contemptuous remarks of his guilty friend 
and mistress roused the latent demon which only slumbered in the felon 
breast of Musgrave, and springing from his chair he exclaimed : 

" 'Tis necessity — that knows no law, and I obey !" 

His evil genius lent his aid, and hurried the consummation of the 
foul deed. May, whose firmness had been so remarkable in the hall, 
altogether gave way when she found herself in her chamber. She 
wept — became hysterical — and at last swooned away. 

" Run !" cried the tire-woman to a young attendant, " bring wine 
here instantly." 

The girl flew down the stairs — rushed into the hall — told that her 
mistress had fainted — and demanded a glass of wine. 

" Ah !" said Claudine in a whisper, " now hast thou a safe opportu- 
nity. Half-a-dozen drops. Thou hast the phial ; and I will amuse the 
girl for a moment. 'Tis but a moment's work ! Courage ! an a spark 
of manhood rests with thee !" 

'Twas said — 'twas done. The trembling criminal poured into the 
wine-glass more of the lethal drug than would have robbed twenty of 
their lives. The unconscious girl rushed from the room with the fatal 
draught. A minute after a scream was heard — May Anderson was 

dead \ 

******* 

What advantages the guilty party hoped to reap by the commissioa 
of this diabolic act is not known, nor had they time allowed to turn the 
murder to account. Ere the corpse of her whose life had been so 
ruthlessly taken was cold, and while the criminals were still carousing 
in the hall, the house was surrounded by the posse commitatus of the 
county ; and Mr. Cameron, attended by the sheriff and his officers, en- 
tered, and arrested Musgrave and his companions. Dreadful was the 
shock, when her guardian heard that May Anderson was already dead. 

" Great God ! more murder !" exclaimed the old man. " Seize that 
fiend in human form ;" and he pointed to the trembling wretch, who 
was instantly secured. 

In the agitation of mind which attended the commission of the 
dreadful deed, the felon had lost all self-possession, and instead of de- 
stroyhig what would prove an evidence of guilt, he incautiously 
replaced the phial in his pocket. There it was discovered — and na 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 99 

doubt it would have led to a criminal conviction, had not circumstances 
prevented the intervention of the law. 

It was too late to remove the offenders to Berwick jail, and they 
were placed for the night in separate apartments, and under a sufficient 
guard. Early next morning the guilty wretches were demanded by the 
sheriff. Claudine and MacDougal were instantly produced — but on 
entering the room where Musgrave had been confined, the body of 
the wretch was found stiff and cold, suspended by his point-lace cravat 
from a spike, which had been driven into the wall to support a mirror. 
They buried him in a hillock within sight of the house, which is still 
called " the Murderer's know." 

The ways of Providence are inscrutable ; for although no human 
eye witnessed the death of Mr. Anderson, a chain of circumstances 
brought the foul deed home to the wretch who had committed it, and he 
was hanged in the Grass-market of Edinburgh. Claudine was turned 
upon the world in abject poverty, and, as tradition goes, she died 
miserably of disease and hunger. 

" Noo, Colonel," pursued the salmon-fisher, " do ye think yon hoose 
can be ony thing but unchancy ? As sure as you are sittin' there, an' 
as I am puing this cobble, — the night I was daffin' with my Jo — she 
that's my wifey noo — Will Musgrave came to the door." 

A fact so incontrovertible, even Sir Robert Bramble would scarcely 
controvert ; and I agreed with honest Jock in opinion, that a room 
where a murderer has hanged himself is not the most suitable locality 
for an amatory interview ; and that if lovers wish that their tetes-d-icte 
should escape interruption, they had better choose another apartment to 
keep tryste in. 



CHAPTER XV. 



I HAVE neither right reason, or authority to curse rail-roads. Idle 
as I am, and a man in worldly affairs " of no estimation," still I have 
found their advantage. I never smarted from speculation — I was too 
poor to play the director, and too principled — thank Heaven — to enter 
into Stag Alley operations. My withers are, consequently, unwrung ; 
but yet I must take a liberty to inquire, whether there was any 
particular clause in the Act of Parliament of the Newcastle and 
Edinburgh line, that authorized the said company to let a bridge fall 
twice, and spoil the whole trout fishing in the Ey ? Never, indeed, 
was destruction more complete. This beautiful little stream where, 
but three years since, I ^Ued my pannier frequently, is now tortured 
from its course, and half its best pools left waterless — while the falling 
of the bridge introduced such a quantity of fresh lime into the stream, 
that for miles down the river, dead and dying trouts were taken up by 
hundreds. I suppose by this time the railroad mania has reached 
Pandemonium, as in two or three years the London fashions reach 
Spittal, where polkas — those exploded enormities — are now ^considered 
quite '* the go" by the Border beauties, who annually ornament that 



IQO HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES, 

salubrious watering-place. Well, if there be infernal committees, and 
a projected line across the Styx — and should Isaac Walton be a member, 
and not like that great patriot Smith O'Brien, be contumacious and in 
the cellar, I would recommend the said Isaac, if he values subterranean 
angling, to look sharp to bridge-masonry, or Styx may be made another 
Ey. 

At the Reston station, I quitted the train to embark myself and 
personal effects in the Dunse " patent safety coach ;" albeit, I could 
discover no particular security in a couple of kicking wheelers, and a 
leader — unicorn — who, by the coachman's admission, was regularly 
down once a week. But although we had now and then a horse's leg 
or two over a trace, the leader — glory to the Prophet ! — kept upon his 
pins ; and, as Pan very pleasantly sings in Midas — 

" Luck's the best tune in life's tol-de-rol-lol !" 
we had luck upon our side, and reached Dunse, our destination, in 
safety. 

I never saw, during a drive of a dozen miles, a country that bore 
such marked indications of a healthy state of society as that between 
the town and the railroad. The outline is expansive, and from the 
coach box the eye ranged over twenty square miles of surface. The 
tillage lands were beautifully cultivated, the plantations clean and 
flourishing, and where the champaign changed to hill, the brown surface 
of the heath was thickly spotted with white fleeces, and told that every 
acre was turned to advantage. I never passed through a denser 
population than the village where we changed horses presented. The 
children came to the doors by dozens ; but not a ragged urchin could 
be seen — nor a sickly face was discoverable. There was not a cottage 
in the drive that did not bear unequivocal marks of comfort — and I can 
safely assert that I did not see an individual to whom I should have 
found myself warranted in offering a sixpence. It was a Saint's day, 
and I thought upon ould Ireland. What there, were the finest pisantry 
on earth about ? Some drinking in a potheeine-house, and more of 
them " stritchin' on the bed ;" while here, the heretical population 
estimated the Saint's festival no more than it had been a sweep's 
holiday. The men were at the plough ; the women plied the hoe ; the 
larger children were weeding, and all this upon the birthday of a 
gentleman who had been canonized some centuries ago. Yet Heaven 
withheld its thunderbolts — and I uttered, with Dominie Sampson, 
" Prodigious !" 

Dunse is a quiet, sleepy, prosperous-looking place, without manufac- 
tures, and dependent on an agricultural population. All that can induce 
a man to take his ease in his inn was there — supper, sleeping-room, 
breakfast — cheap and excellent. At nine next morning I started for 
the upper district of the Lammermuir — and at ten, my Phaeton, who 
drove the gig, pulled up at a lone caravanserai, occasionally resorted to 
by anglers, gentlemen who are called geologists — from carrying leather 
bags and hammers — and persons in the botanical line, generally sup- 
plied with spectacles, I suppose expecting by mechanical assistance to 
find strange weeds, as Diogenes looked for an honest man by candlfe- 
aight. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 101 

He who remains at home sees nothing, hears nothing, and enters 
the grave as he entered the world — knowing nothing. Now here is an 
hostelrie among the hills, and yet its inmates are not. without interest. 
The host — a retired soldier, and on the fullest scale of pension — com- 
menced life in the regiment he left at forty-six ; he was in fact, born 
in it — and never being size or shape for the musket, he commenced his 
career upon the fife, and ended it a bassoon-player. .Tack was in sev- 
enteen actions, and never got a scratch — for regiments never carry 
their musicians into fire ; but he nevertheless looks respectable, for he 
wants his left eye — that being removed in Edinburgh, by a blackguard 
boy flinging a broken brick at another. His helpmate is a sturdy High- 
land woman, of active habits and unintelligible dialect ; his daughter, 
or rather step-daughter — for the old lady has been three or four times 
at the hymeneal altar — is cultivated and poetical. She repeats passages 
from the Elqgant Extracts, and denounces Burns as incorrect, and 
Byron monotonious. She has constructed a hymn, two sonnets, and an 
acrostic ; they have been much admired, and I presume with justice. 
But, like the fair Imogen, " I swear by the Virgin," that if Miss Mac- 
Fie ever obtrudes a. stanza upon me, whether the hour be — 
" Moonless midnight, or matin prime," 

I'll cut her and her house incontinently. 

My arrival has dispelled the poetic reveries of this modern Sappho ; 
and Miss MacFie is off to Dunse on a Highland shelty and at full gal- 
lop, on the unromantic errand of bringing out a joint of " butcher meat " 
for my dinner. Fancy yourself encountering a young lady who had 
recently penned a sonnet and perpetrated a hymn, charging along the 
Queen's high-road at a Waterloo pace, with a leg of mutton in the same 
hand, which had just now left the crow-quill ! 

There is an unhappy-looking man hoeing cabbages " ben the hoose : " 
— that is the ex-bassoon player, who, it is evident, holds his life merely 
by his lady's sufferance. Mrs. MacFie, like a bull in a china shop, has 
decidedly every thing her own way ; and in Gaelic and English — or 
rather what I presume to be one of the unknown tongues — is engaged 
indoctrinating a red-haired lassie with bare legs, in domestic duties, her 
own hands resting upon hips whose amplitude affords them full accom- 
modation. Well, I'll toddle up the water and if I don't kill trouts, kill 
time ; and, as I have a score of letters to answer, that task will consume 
the evening. 

As the Cheviots are celebrated for the flavour of its mutton, the 
Lammermuir is famed for that of its honey. There scarcely a cottage 
meets the eye which has not a large stock of bees ; and, in a garden 
before a shepherd's house I passed en route to the Muckle-hole, I reck- 
oned six-and-thirty skeps,* whose little tenants were in fine health, 
and full activity. 

The rules of art in angling, as in war, are frequently found to be 
mere fallacies. On a former visit to the Lammermuir, I went a mile 
up the river one evening to the valley where the Dy joins the Whitad- 
der, and in two pools, and within a few hundred yards of the junction 
of the streams, killed ten pounds' weight of healthy trouts — I name the 

* A hive. 



102 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

weight, for generally the fish taken here, average but a small figure ;— 
indeed a herring-size may be set down as among the largest. But occa- 
sionally much larger trouts are taken ; ay, even ranging to four pounds 
— certainly few and far between — but those of one, two, and even three 
pounds are not unfrequent. On that occasion, I remember that at the 
Muckle-hole,* I had at one time three trouts upon my casting-line, and 
landed the whole three ; but this evening they reject me and my flies 
altogether, and my most indefatigable attempts to please are returned 
with a slap of the tail. A herd-boy has just come down the river, and, 
with a worm, has killed seventeen ! — " Think of that Master Brooke !" 

But here comes my friend, the guager, the best practical fisherman 
on Teviot, Till, or Tweed. He is working with the minnow ; and all 
he has basketed in a six miles' walk, is some half dozen, — most of them 
certainly well-sized : but what of that ? Their united weight would 
not turn three pounds : and I have seen his forty pound pannier of an 
evening, when the lid would not close upon it ! 

After a two hours' walk, I returned to mine inn. Evening gray 
came on — " The feast was over," not in Branxholm Tower, but in the 
hostelrie of Mrs. Martha MacFie — a glass of whiskey-toddy smoking at 
my elbow ; my portefeuilh unlocked — the paper ready to " speed the 
soft intercourse from soul to soul ;" if, like the fair poetess below, I did 
anything in the sentimental line — the pen — I eschew steel ones — nibbed 
critically — and, like a ready writer, I was about to commence epistolary 
operations. All was in quiet and repose — the rivulet murmured its way 
down the glen, to offer its tribute to the Whitadder ; and there was a 
hum of bees, and a tapping of the bassoon-player's hoe. But these were 
soothing sounds, and in fit keeping with the loneliness of a dwelling re- 
mote from noise and mankind. Here, a Bishop might have composed a 

homily, or the member for shire arranged his maiden speech. I 

felt the dreamy influence of solitude — and ceased to marvel that, in a 
locality so favourable to poesy and romance, the mantle of Sappho had 
descended on the shoulders of Miss Anna Maria MacFie. I never in 
my life was in the mood sentimental, that the devil did not take especial 
care to interrupt it ; and manifold as the devices of the evil one are re- 
puted to be, never did he out of malice aforethought, select, such demo- 
niac means for demolishing the peace of mind of an elderly gentleman 
— for ere the gray goose-quill had affixed the final K to " My dear Jack," 
one blast of an accordion annihilated my mental serenity. Only ima- 
gine Anna Maria, whose musical acquirements are still in the bud, and 
separated from me only by a boarded partition, groping out the first part 
of " Will you come to the bower !" Heaven pardon me if I sinned — but 
I altered the line to "Will you go to the devil ?" But what was to be done ? 
Was I to submit to martyrdom, and have the sheriff-substitute of Berwick, 
shire announce to the world, that I had been shuffled out of it by the 
visitation of an accordion ? If I must die, I would die like a man — and 
throwing the window open, I summoned the landlord, who laid down his 
hoe and promptly obeyed the call. . I appealed to him as a bassoon- 
player, and on the score of all that was human and musical — implored 
3iim to save me. There were many deadly inventions which I pointed 

* Large. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 103 

out ; Shrapnell shells, prussic acid, Fulton's torpedo, and Warner's long 
range ; but what were any or all, in effect to be compared to the slow, 
but certain death produced by an accordion '? He has vanished ; that 
infernal nuisance is abated ; but I have preserved life at the expense of 
Miss MacFie's " wreathed smiles," as a contemptuous toss of the head, 
with a renewed glass of toddy too plainly indicated. Well, glory to the 
Prophet ! I am safe from a second invitation " to the bower," or even 
the infliction of a sonnet. 

The day promised to be cloudy, and tempted by skyey appearances, 
though the water weis far "too fine," I put faith in the clouds and ven- 
tured forth. Had I been a railroad dupe, 1 could not have been more 
effectually humbugged ; for, before I had made a half hour's march to 
the Black Pool, and put my rod together, out came the sun gloriously, 
scattering from his presence every cloud that had presumed to occupy 
the heavens. The Waltonian alternative was only left me — patience, 
to wit — so I unjointed my rod, wound my flies around my hat, and then 
sat down to muse upon the vanity of an angler's hopes and expecta- 
tions, beside as bright a run of water as flows through the Lammermuir. 

The stream elbowed at my side, and formed a circling hole ; and 
though in places it might be six feet deep, it was so pellucid, that there 
was not a pebble whose colours I could not tell distinctly. I amused 
myself for a time in looking at the rushing of the small trouts — for the 
larger and more respectable members of that community were reposing 
under bank and stone — when suddenly the pool was filled with min- 
nows, varying in size from a quarter-inch to half a finger's length. As 
to their numbers, that set computation at defiance altogether — for I am 
certain that, big and little, at one time, ten thousand were clearly 
visible. No wonder with such a commissariat, that the Whitadder 
and Dy trouts are so superior to those generally taken in mountain 
streams. Every angler knows, that a generous soil is as necessary to 
turn out a well-conditioned trout, as to fatten a beeve or finish a wed- 
der. Hence, at the mouth of a drain, or the tail of a mill-race, you 
find invariably the best-fed fish. I saw this more thoroughly marked 
some years ago in Ireland — and it would appear that artificial, as well 
as natural feeding agrees with trouts, as well as oil-cake does with 
oxen. A friend of mine had a fishing cottage literally on the lake's 
verge, and as the kitchen abutted on the water, the debris of his cuisine 
were piped into the water. At its debouch^, if you could throw a fly 
that had temptation — for as the fish reposing there were above the 
necessity of taking insects, and indeed of taking exercise — it was most 
difficult to induce them to get up — but could you coax one of the in- 
dolent ruffians to rise, his figure was generally a curiosity. Like a 
Glasgow baillie, he was broad as he was long, — and in gastronomic 
comparison as far above his lean and dandy-shaped companions in the 
opposite reeds, as a civic counsellor to a Highland gilly. This excel- 
lent fall-back, therefore, upon the devoted minnows, will readily account 
for the excellence of condition which the Whitadder and Dy trouts pos- 
sess over the finny inhabitants of the orfinary mountain streams. 

Even though this may be considered as " the low country," still in 
winter these muirs are most difficult to traverse i for after a fall of rain, 



104 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

nothing can be more tiresome than the yielding soil which meets your 
shoe at every step. I would freely undertake to walk twenty miles of 
sound heather, rather than five of the nondescript character of the 
Lammermuir. You cannot call it road, for with every second furlong 
you get into a gated field. In these wastes you are honourably ex- 
pected and bound to " sneck the yet,"* and considering the mischief 
that the sheep and cattle might inflict, no man of good feeling should 
or would on this point be careless. Here, wilful damage is never com- 
mitted — and crime is almost unknown. At times there is a little 
poaching with the gun and leister ;f but life and property are perfectly 
secure — and nothing may be dreaded but " winter and bad weather." 

But, at these sad seasons, on the Lammermuir the proprietors of 
cattle have severe visitations. From a know :}: which commanded an 
expansive prospect, the herdsman pointed out four fanns, on each of 
which in the severe snow-storms of the years 1837 and 1838*, from 
twenty to thirty scores of sheep had perished — making in round num- 
bers, a total loss of twelve hundred, and that within the range of sight. 
" I dinna name the sma loss," said the shepherd, " but were they 
taken ower the muir in twas, an threes, an twantys, they would have 
reached muckle mair than the big yuns." 

Heavy as these losses are to which the farmers in this hill country 
are exposed, it is too frequently accompanied by loss of human life. 
In the upper Lammermuir, the houses are in some places four miles 
apart — the connecting road a pathway, or a mere beaten track, unde- 
fined by fence or hedge. Hence, the first shower of snow obliterates 
any wheel-marks which could guide the stranger — and even the herds- 
man's practised eye is sometimes hardly taxed to enable him to find 
his route. I asked Sandy had many of these accidents happened with- 
in his memory ? 

" Oh, yes !" he replied, " I lost my ain feyther when a baira. It 
was in the great storm of the fourteen (1814),§ and his body was na 
found for nine weeks after, an then it was his ain doggie that hokit it 
oot fra underneath the sna." 

" You met, my friend, with a severe loss," I said in reply. 

" I did. Sir ; but mair was tynt than him. The finest lad that ever 
laid brogue on heather perished the same evening. Mony a strapping 
youth these glens ha sent till the wars ; but naer did sae fine a laddie 
quit his mither's sheeleen, as puir Wolly Forster was." 

My curiosity was excited, and I sat down upon a rock, pulled out 
my flask, warmed the shepherd with a drappie, the said drappie occu- 
pying the tin drinking-cup attached to the canteen, and which contains 

* Close the gate. t A fish spear. X Hillock. 

4 The duration of the successive snow-storms of this remarkable winter and spring, 
will be best illustrated by an electioneering anecdote. On the the 24th of December, 
the writ to elect a knight of the shire, arrived at Castlebar ; and on the 26th, the cele- 
brated Mayo contest commenced, which lasted, I think, ninety days ! During this 
protracted scene of riot, only six or eight of the Montagues and Capulets were abso- 
lutely killed ; the " kilt," i. e. the maimed, of course were a legion ; and the cause 
assigned for the coroner having so little employment, was, that as the snow lay the 
whole time of the contest, the mobs, not being able to obtain stones, were obliged to 
pelt each other with snow-balls ! 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 105 

three wine-glasses of honest calibre. Sandy's narrative had interest 
for me. The tale was told where it had occurred, and it also carried 
with it other associations — for Willy Forster's regiment had been in my 
own Brigade, in the glorious wind-up of the Peninsular campaigns — 
and, as the Highlanders say, we had probably fought " shoulder to 
shoulder." Even in that thought there is a communion of feeling — a 
military freemasonry — that none but a soldier can feel or appreciate. 

I shall merely give a sketch, rather than a detail of the Shepherd's 
Story. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE SHEPHJERd's STORY. 



In yonder glen that opens at the bending of the river, you can still 
trace the ruined walls of a cottage and cattle-steading, and perceive, 
from the furrowed surface of the land beside them, that it once had been 
cultivated, and formed a herdsman's croft. For more than thirty years, 
however, the valley has been deserted — some say because better-shelter- 
ed folds and sheeleens were elsewhere found, while others attribute its 
abandonment to the superstition of the mountain hinds, who objected to 
occupy a place, which they looked upon as being unlucky. 

It was war-time — and every corner of the British island furnished 
their supplies to those who bled freely in foreign lands, and kept the 
battle at a distance. The militia ballot was then in operation — and 
many a youth whom softer ties and family affections would have retained 
at home, was unexpectedly called away. The herdsman who occupied 
the ruined cottage which you see had two sons. Reuben was tv/enty- 
two, a strong, well-formed, low-sized mountaineer. Donald was three 
years younger — and was admitted by universal consent, to be the finest 
lad within the wide scope of the Lammermuir. 

Reuben loved happily, for he won the woman whom he loved — and 
she was the only daughter of a wealthy herdsman. Wealth must be 
considered by comparison ; and Alice Johnson was a wealthy bride, for 
she brought him fifty sheep and bedding and napery* to furnish out a 
cottage. Jealousy will even find its way into a moorland glen — and 
many a young mountaineer envied the good fortune of Reuben John- 
stone. 

Alas ! how soon worldly prosperity may be alloyed by some unex- 
pected visitation ! — Ere the bridal moon had waned, news reached the 
glen that Reuben Johnstone was drawn in the militia. 

Donald was absent in the hills, when the sad intelligence reached yon 
ruined cottage. He had left a happy family that morning — the old 
couple were comfortable and contented — Reuben had wooed and won 
his Jo — and Alice had obtained the youth of her aiTections. Great, 
therefore, was the surprise of the young hei'dsman, on returning to his 
evening meal, to find a family he had left in smiles, now overwhelmed 
with sorrow. 

* House-linen. 



106 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" What means this grief?" exclaimed the mountaineer. 

" Alas ! Donald," replied the old dame, " puir Reuben's drawn for a 
sodger, and he maun gang across the saas, an leave his bonny bride." 

The young shepherd looked 'for a moment at Alice, who had hidden 
her face in her apron to conceal grief she could not conquer. 

" No !" exclaimed the youth passionately, " Reuben shall bide at 
hame, gin they will but tak me in his stead." 

It is unnecessary to say, that when Donald presented himself at the 
head-quarters of the regiment, and offered himself as a substitute for his 
brother, that he was gladly accepted. His was not a spirit to remain 
at home, when the Highland tartans were waving on a battle-field. He 
volunteered the first turn-out ; and ere a twelvemonth had elapsed, he 
who had been herding sheep upon the Lammermuir, had won a corpo- 
ral's stripes upon the red field of Albuera. ' 

And yet it was with an aching heart that Donald bade a long fare- 
well to his native valley. If " love rules the court, the camp, the 
grove," he is as despotic in the Highland strath. Donald loved — but 
hopeless was his passion — for wealth and position united, told him he 
must love in vain. 

Mary Hay was the minister's only child, and the minister was re- 
puted richer than Scottish churchmen generally are — while Mary was 
the sweetest girl on the Borders. She was just sixteen when Donald 
left his native glen. With him it had been secret and distant adoration 
— he "never told his love" — but many a wreath of wild flowers Mary 
had found on the holly-bush before her window, and yet she never 
knew the hand that placed them there. But when young Donald went 
to be a soldier, these faery favours ceased. 

Three years had rolled away — a second child occupied the care of 
Alice Johnstone — and both at the cottage and the manse, all was well and 
prosperous. It was a fine Sabbath-day, and at Abbey Saint Batlians, 
" Long, loud, and deep, the bell had toll'd. 
Which summoned sinful man to pray." 

In the beautiful simplicity of Scottish worship, the mountain con- 
gregation were engaged, when the kirk-door opened — and a young man, 
who might have sat to a painter as the very impersonation of a Highland 
soldier advanced up the aisle. Although his air and bearing were 
altogether changed by military setting-up, still there were two present 
who recognized him at a glance — his fond mother, and one who had 
loved him, although she did not know it hei'self — and she was Mary 
Hay. 

Donald's was a short furlough. He had come back humbly but 
honourably distinguished — for three chevrons on his- arm told that he had 
risen to a sergeant's rank. Warm was his welcome among the young 
herdsmen with whom he had always been a favourite ; and many a 
female heart fluttered when the waving taitans of the handsome 
Highlander were seen, as he joined her in a muirland stroll, or sat 
beside her on broomy bank or heathery know. Short as his leave of 
absence was, it was still further abridged — for Donald was suddenly 
called off to join a large reinforcement which was about to sail for the 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. X07 

Peninsula to recruit the Highland regiments. The evening before his 
departure, he walked down to the manse to bid the minister farewell — 
such was the errand he announced — but had the secret of his heart been 
Icnown, it was to look his last upon ©ne whom the chances of war might 
probabl)^ never allow him to look upon again. 

Mr. Hay was absent, and Mary was alone. Wliat passed can only 
be conjectured. Both hearts were full, and accident disclosed the 
mutual secret — their troth was interchanged, and moonlight was 
streaming over hill and streamlet ere Donald could tear himself away. 

A year passed — news came of " foughten fields," and the Pyrenees 
no longer set bounds to British gallantry. Victory followed Wellington, 
and the tide of success which commenced on the Agueda, only termi- 
nated on the banks of the Garonne. Donald had " escaped the slaughter,*' 
and nobly distinguished himself, for he had now attained that honoura- 
ble rank — which professional ability and exemplary conduct only can 
command — of sergeant-major. Hitherto fortune had befriended him; 
and, in the sanguinary conflicts which had occurred from Vittoria to 
Toulouse, the lover of Mary Hay had been unscathed. At the last 
battle — and oh ! what a wanton expenditure of human blood it was — he 
had, however, been severely wounded, and his recovery was doubtful at 
first, and afterwards most tedious. 

In the interval which elapsed from the night when Donald parted 
from his mistress, several suitors had sought the hand of Mary Hay, 
and been modestly but decidedly refused. All of them were favoured 
with her father's approbation — and the continued rejections of their ad- 
dresses, led to suspicions and subsequent inquiry, which elicited a candid 
avowal of her engagement with tlie absent soldier. Mary's happiness 
was a superior consideration to worldly ones. Donald bore an un- 
blemished reputation, and had won by his gallantry and good-conduct 
an honourable name. Mr. Hay yielded to his daughter's request — and 
Donald was apprized that a parent's approval had been obtained, and 
that his course of love would now run smooth. 

The reduction of the military establishment of Britain, which fol- 
lowed the abdication of Napoleon, allowed all who were not perfectly 
serviceable to be pensioned and discharged. In that number, I^onald 
was included ; and in the middle of December, he quitted the colours 
under which he had fought and bled, and set out for his native valley, 
" With war's red honours on his crest, 
To clasp his Mary to his breast." 

His voyage across the channel was prosperous, and on the 28th of 
December, he quitted the mail-coach I'oad, and sought " the Moorland 
wild," where love was waiting to welcome him with open arms. 

Before he had proceeded a mile, the snow, which had for a while 
treacherously abated only to come on with additional fury, fell thickly 
—and the wind increasing to a storm, sent it drifting furiously across 
the moors. Donald, weakened by his wounds, was ill-prepared to stand 
against the tempest. Night and darkness came ; every trace which 
could indicate the road, had long since disappeared, and the feeble sol- 
dier lost the track, and wandered in a wrong direction. Strength failed 
—sleep probably overcame him — and the next morning the finest youth 



108 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

the Lammermuir had produced for a century, was found lifeless beneath 
the stone-dyke of a pen-fold. 

******** 

They laid him in the church-yard of Saint Bathans. The wailing 
bag-pipes, the roll of musketry, did not announce that a gallant soldier, 
now 

" Slept that sleep that knows not breaking," 

but the tears of every mountain maid for miles around, moistened poor 
Donald's grave. 

Mary Hay never raised her head. They brought her to Edinburgh, 
in the vain hope that leechcraft and change of scene might cure a 
broken heart. As the first spring flowers peeped through the heather, 
a hearse, attended by a crowd of mourners, was seen wending through 
the glen that leads to the ancient Abbey. Resting upon it, a coffin, 
exhibiting the white crape which typified the virgin purity of her whose 
remains were hastening to the narrow house, was seen. It bore a short 
but touching inscription — 

" Mary Hay, anno jetatis, nineteen." 

They laid her beside him whom she loved in life — and the flower of 
Lammermuir reposes close to as brave a soldier, as ever pressed High- 
land brogue upon a battle-field. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Somebody says that misfortune introduces men to strange bed-fel- 
lows. Without one particle of bad luck, the Lammermuir will do the 
same for any gentleman, who has no objection to be boxed up with a 
fellow traveller for the night. We Irish consider such arrangements 
as appertaining to the barbarities of a century gone by ; but in these 
wild districts, men who never had seen each other in their lives, are 
stuck into the same berth ; — for in the mountain country, the sleeping- 
places are berths, not beds. 

Desirous of working my way to the upper district of these sweet 
and romantic hills, I found upon inquiry, that I had reached the last 
house that professed to entertain a traveller. Up the glens, few and 
far between — I should occasionally meet a shepherd's sheeleen — but 
they were too limited to afford accommodation to an humbler way- 
farer than I appeared to be. Indeed, nothing can be on a ruder, or 
more limited scale than these abiding-places. They approximate the 
Irish cabin closely, only that they are lighted with glass windows, fur- 
nished with chimneys, doors, and a roof impervious to the weather — 
while the cattle have sod-walled huts, and not " the run of the kitchen," 
as in the land of saints. Wei'e his house more comfortable, the High- 
land herdsman would have little time to enjoy it ; for a person who has 
not rambled through the Lammermuir and Cheviots, can little imagine 
the severe and never-ending business of a pastoral life in Highland 
regions like these. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. X09 

Excepting to obtain shelter during a few hours of hasty sleep, the 
shepherd seldom sees his home from sunrise to sunset. He must be 
afoot before his flock, and he never leaves them till they have settled 
and laid down for the night. His meals are generally brought him in 
the hills — and the more severe the weather, the more imperative he 
finds it to be out of doors, to keep his flock together. In a word, a 
shepherd's life may be very pretty and poetical in Arcadia, but a 
Cheviot Tytyrus has other fish to fry, than piping like a bull-finch, or 
playing " love among the roses" with some Daphne or Amarylidis, in 
full costume as Fentum turns out his shepherdesses for Julien's lal 
masque, with a straw-hat, ribbons that would supply a recruiting party, 
crook in hand, and every thing complete, barring the lamb. 

I ascertained, however, that there was a farm-house of more exten- 
sive dimensions, in a glen some eight miles up the hills ; that the owner 
was kind and hospitable ; and that I might manage to put in a day or 
two well enough, as there were some fine pools in the river, and a tarn 
in the muir in which the dark-mountain trouts were abundant. It 
would be necessary, however, to look to the Commissariate before I 
commenced my pilgrimage — for the larder at Crag-More could not 
always be depended on. Miss MacFie prepared accordingly a basket 
of viands, and Sandy bawn* has literally loaded himself with wliisky 
— that pleasant fluid being, as he averred, the best letter of introduction 
to a Highlander. 

There had been a sharp spaight two days before : — we found the 
pools in fine order, — and beside the numerous bottles Sandy carried in 
a hand-basket, I filled the creel upon his back with trouts — and a little 
fuller I suspect, than he found quite agreeable. 

We reached our destination before sunset — and found the house 
already occupied by three cattle-jobbers returning from a lamb-fair 
in the upper moor, and pleasantly engaged at our entrance, in discuss- 
ing a frying-pan-full of savoury bacon and poached eggs. They were 
of the Dandy Dinmont order, but of far inferior grade in appearance — 
thin, hardy, whisky-drinking men — each provided with a heavy-handled 
thonged whip, and accompanied by a terrier or sheep-dog. 

I was warmly welcomed, and Sandy took care most pompously to 
announce my rank ; for it is marvellous how far a name goes in ob- 
taining respect even in these wild hills. I looked around the kitchen ; 
it was a large unceiled room, with three bulkheads or bedsteads, built 
up against the back wall ; tables, and chairs, and milk vessels, and 
churns ; pots, pans, and kettles ; the whole in chaotic confusion. 

There were hanging from the rafters, a goodly store of bacon, 
sundry dried salmon, who no doubt had felt the leister ;f huge balls 
of spun worsted for making clothing for the family ; and a hundred 
articles beside, indigenous only to a shepherd's kitchen. 

The master of the house was a hale, stout, sexagenarian ; his wife, 
some ten years younger, a stout, but comely gentlewoman ; and his 
daughters, the pledges of married love, " twa bonnie lassies," some 
year each, over and under twenty. There is a grandchild too, an 
early orphan j it is the sole issue of an unhappy marriage, contracted 
* Fair Sandy. t Been poached. 



2^10 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

by their eldest daughter, widowed at twenty-three and now obliged to 
seek a service. 

Nothing can be simpler than the arrangement of this dwelling. It 
is partitioned into two rooms, a parlour, and the kitchen just described. 
A huge peat-fire was on my advent, immediately placed in the chimney 
of the grand chamber ; which to judge by its vanity smell, is a cere- 
mony that is but annually performed. I feasted, drank, parthioned a 
bottle of whisky among the family and guests, who had now, that night 
had rendered their services unnecessary, received an addition of five 
sheep-dogs. Sundry yawns — but not till after the last drop of alcohol 
had vanished — were interchanged among the drovers — and I rose 
and walked into the state apartment, intimating that I too was ready to 
retire. 

In half an hour, one of the lassies came in, and told me that my 
bed was " aw right." In what undiscovered crypt was my person to 
be, scoUice, disposed ? I followed Jessie into the kitchen ; and there 
the company had made brief toilets. The host, his lady, and the two- 
year-old, were ensconced in the crib next the fire — in that next the 
door, three heads, a red, a black, and a gray, were laid upon the pillow 
— but the centre box was untenanted. 

" That bed's for you. Colonel," said the lady of the mansion, rais- 
ing herself bolt upright, and perfectly oblivious that her night garment 
would be greatly improved by a button or two. " I chose it for ye. 
It's na too near the fire, nor yet ahint the door, ye ken. Ye'll find it 
unco snug." 

" And, Madam," I said, horrified, at the idea of sufi'ocation, are 
these two young ladies to be my companions — or only one of them ?" 

''' Na, na, na," returned the the matron. " Ye'll haeit a to yeersel 
— the lassies sleep ben the hoose." 

I entered a gentle protest against disturbing them ; and it was finally 
settled that the fire in the great chamber should be heaped anew, a 
shakedown made upon the floor, and all and every, sleeping or waking, 
should have a dock an durris — and, while the lassies were arranging 
my bed, a fresh cork was extracted, and from crib to crib I passed along 
and administered the alcohol. 

It was marvellous to see with what facility the company despatched 
the whisky. In return for fried bacon and general hospitality, each 
of the drovers had come provided with flasks which held a quart, and 
every drop of their contents had been duly expended. But still they 
were quite delighted with the evening offering I had made — while to 
my horror and surprise, his grandmama, turned half a wine glass full 
of undiluted whisky down the throat of the two-year-old, and the imp 
never winced. Presently, my room was announced ready, and I re- 
tired for the night. 

I am morally convinced that every member of the kitchen company, 
from the time the drovers arrived until the landlord finally reposed his 
red kilmarnock on the pillow, had an honest flask of pure undiluted 
whisky under their respective belts — and yet they are all up, merry as 
crickets, and off" this morning at cock-crow. 

The quantity of raw alcohol these Borderers can drink is marvellous. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. m 

In their cups they are noisy and argumentative ; fond of song-singing 
and shaking hands ; and though they will shatter your nerves without 
compunction b)'^ halloing " Auld lang syne," the only injury they will 
advisedly inflict, will be an attempt to force you to swallow whisky 
whether you will or not. 

I must be off; — I never knew until now that there was half the 
misery in the world that there is. In the reproduction of the animal 
and human race, this seems to be the weaning district. That cherub, 
who swallowed the whiskey last night, is being weaned, and he con- 
tinually doth cry. The theme of every man that stops, whether to 
light his pipe or feed his horse, is the risk and trouble of severing the 
lambs from the ewes : — and this moment, a weanling foal popped his 
head through the only pane of glass in my window, which had not a 
previous crack or a bull's-eye in it ! — Wind sharp at east — no joke ! 
I'll back to Mr. MacFie's, for I think I have gotten his womankind in 
tolerable order. He, " good, easy man," was no assistance ; for al- 
though he might have been first bassoon upon the Peninsula, he plays 
but second fiddle on the Lammermuir. His lady is white-sergeant. 
*' God help the wake !" as they say in Ireland : he has nothing left for 
him, but to hoe his cabbages, receive his daily bread, and bend to the 
will of Allah : or rather — to that of Mistress MacFie. 

A gentleman, " rather the worse of liquor," with a bridle in his 
hand, disturbed the tranquillity of the MacFies, and interrupted my 
repose this morning, at the unreasonable hour of four, A. M. Like 
Commodore Trunnion, when conveying his dying instructions to Jack 
Hatchway, this unknown guest had " a ripple in his speech," and the 
account he gave of himself was consequently, by no means as plain, 
and much less satisfactory than young Norval's.* He had arrived, it 
appeared, on horseback the night before, and departed "a cheval" after 
an early breakfast attended by a muirland gilly, in search of the pic- 
turesque, and to collect mountain plants to form a liortus siccus. Would 
that he had kept his thrapple like his liortus — dry ; but here he is ere 
cock-crow, complaining, as Timothy Weazle does in the play, of a 
faithless guide and a horse that has proved a levanter.* He is, how- 
ever, better off than the unfortunate attorney, for he has brought back 
the bridle. His narrative is confused — for the gilly to whose guidance 
he committed himself, seduced him into Meg Pringle's hostelrie, and 
divers mutchins were finished, and, unhappily, the mutchins finished 
him. Touching his travels homewards he presei'ves a dignified silence, 
and is, as I suspect, oblivious of the same. I fancy that he steered a 
circuitous course, he having, according to his own report, crossed sun- 
dry times the river, both mounted, and dismounted, whereas the beaten 
path does not impose the trouble of " taking soil " upon the tourist. 
He, the liorlus siccus man, is obliged to be back at Falkirk in two days 
— and the bassoon-player has given him the pleasant intelligence that 
from the extent of the Lammermuir, two weeks may probably be con- 

* " I have lost my guide, my guide has lost himself, and my horse has absconded 
with saddle, bridle, and shoes, save one he left behind him in a slough." — The Wheel 
of Fortune. 



112 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

sumed ere the erratic quadruped can be recovered. This afflicting 
communication produced a burst of sorrow, in which it transpired that 
the ill-starred traveller was married — a man under authority — and his 
wife, what they call in America, " a genuine conwmnder." How will 
he venture into her presence, and stand " the fury of her eyes," when 
she sees a personage who left home as well-mounted as John Gilpin 
when he started on his Edmonton expedition, return to Falkirk with a 
bridle in his hand, and an apocryphal apology for a lost charger ? He 
is off " over bank, bush, and scaur," on the chance, rather than in the 
hope of recovering his lost Rosinante — leaving behind him sundry 
weeds, a bunch of heather, an ill-constructed fishing-rod, and a book 
which he brought with him no doubt for a double purpose — namely, to 
indoctrinate him in " the gentle art," and also render him an adept in 
the stable and field management of horse-flesh — for on both these sub- 
jects, the book in question, produced by Nicholas Cox, 1680, gives 
ample information. 

Somebody says — no matter who — but a person whose word might 
be taken for a thousand, that he never met a book in his life from 
which he could not extract some useful information — prolaium est — 
and, although an old dragoon, I have learned from honest Nicholas 
more than I ever knew in my life before. Nick sayeth, " I have im- 
parted to the public what my own experience hath taught me," and, as 
in honour bound, I will oblige the said public with some valuable in- 
formation. 

Of course it is necessary, on Mrs. Glass's principle for making hare 
soup, as a preliminary step to provide yourself with what the Irish 
term, " a daisy cutter." In purchasing the prad, be sure he has plenty 
of white through him, whether he be black, bay, or sorrel. If he has 
not, old Nick passeth " his word " that he'll be sulky as a bear, par- 
ticularly if he have " a small pink eye, a narrow face, with a nose 
bending like a hawk's bill." 

Touching dietary, Mr. Cox is very particular, and difl!ers with a 
great authority, a Mr. Morgan. Nick does not object to " oats washt 
in strong ale," but he won't stand " bay salt and aniseeds " in the hay, 
nor " incourage his water with white Avine to qualifie the cold quality 
thereof," this being in equine management a mere copy of the Irish 
gentleman's reason for throwing a glass of cognac into a tumbler of 
the simple element, not to improve the flavour, but only to " take the 
colour of death " off" the innocuous fluid. 

In stable management, the groom is desired to take the currycomb 
in his right hand, and if the horse let fly when under the operation, 
to " correct him gently for his waggishness." Devilish queer definition 
of waggery ! The jerk direct of a horse's hind leg into your stomach 
is, in my mind, anything but a joke. 

When preparing for the hunting season, which must be opened by 
running a trail of " a dead cat or a salt herring," at four o'clock in the 
morning you must give your " bone setter " a quarter of a peck of oats 
and a quart of good strong ale," and on your return, " to disperse watry 
humours which might annoy his head," and also " to comfort his 
stomach " the malt must be administered again in a preparation called 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. X13 

" horse caudle, ' and his legs bathed over from the knees with " warm 
beef broth." After his second appearance in the field you must change 
your caudle and beef broth for an electuary of " butter, grommel- 
broom, parsley, jallap, aniseeds, liquorish, and cream of tartar, three 
handfuls of rye-bread, hay, provinder, mash, &c., and so leave him till 
morning." At the early visit next day, should he have what Nick calls 
" a pose in the head — " as there's nothing like leather, you must com- 
fort his stomach anew, and administer strong ale with oats and mustard- 
seed. 

This is all plain sailing, merely confined to ordinary field operations, 
but " the ordering the hunter for a match of plate " is a different job 
altogether, and the groom has other fish to fry. 

After he takes an exact view of the state of his body, *' both out- 
wardly and inwardly — " the latter rather troublesome to accomplish — 
if the horse appear sluggish and melancholy, he must get " half an 
ounce of diapente in a pint of good old Malaga sack." Now were 
we oui'selves melancholy, barring the diapente, we would not object to 
the sack-posset. Then he must be fed on bread, vide in the note the 
recipe for preparing it.* The dead cat next comes into operation — 
and when he is tired of cantering after the deceased grimalkin, " find 
out a dead jog." At first I took it for a misprint, and opined it was " a 
dead dog," as forming a pleasing variety to cat hunting ; but the con- 
text put me right — " or sandy way, though but of half a mile's length, 
and there breath your horse." At eight o'clock give him " a julep — " 
not a mint one, as Jonathan concocts it — but barley water, lemon juice, 
and violets. For the last fortnight wash his oats in whites of eggs, 
and on the morning that he runs give him " a toast or two steeped in 
sack ;" lead him to the scratch — and you're safe to win — " ei nullus 
error " — as the Duke says. 

Nicholas, though wide awake in all the arcana of foul play, such 
as " crossing, yoking, &c.," desireth not to instruct any one in the 
same ; but there is one artful dodge which he drops out — and that, Sam 
Chiffney, old as he is, should attend to. 

"If there be any high wind stirring when you ride, observe, if it be 
in your face, to let your adversary lead, and to hold hard behind him, 
till you see your opportunity of giving a loose ; yet you must ob- 
serve to ride so close to him that his horse may break the wind from 
yours, and that you, by stooping low in your seat, may shelter yourself 
under him, which will assist the strength of your horse. But if the 
wind be in your back, ride exactly behind him, that your horse may 
alone enjoy tlie benefit of the wind, by being as it were blown forward, 
and by breaking it from him as much as possible." 

Finis coronal. The race is over, and of course you have won to a 
dead moral. Well, lead your horse home and give him " this drink to 

* " Take wheat-meal one peck, rye-meal, beans and oat-meal, all ground very 
email, of each half a peck, aniseeds, and licorish, of each one ounce, white sugar- 
candy four ounces, all in fine powder, the yolks and whites of twenty eggs, well beaten, 
and so much white wine as will knead it into a paste ; make this into two great loaves, 
bake them well, and after they be two or three days old, let him eat of this bread, but 
chip away the outside. 

8 



114 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES- 

comfort" — a pint and a half of sweet milk, three yolks of eggs, a hand- 
ful of rosemary, three pennyworth of saffron, and three spoonsful of 
salad oil. Wash his back " with warm sack," the spurring-places with 
the same admixture that Xantippe applied to Socrates, his legs with 
ditto and saltpetre ; and with the assistance of a mash, rye-bread, hay, 
corn, and an electuary, next morning you'll find him as fresh as a four- 
year-old. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



To any one who, in the language of Cockaygne, can stand " the 
cheap and nasty," a voyage from Leith to Berwick will be particularly 
interesting. It is effected in six hours — and time and space are anni- 
hilated for the moderate consideration of four shillings. As it is hap- 
pily observed of the army, that " economy is the order of tlie day," if 
the voyager will content himself with that moiety of the deck which is 
placed before the funnel, and consort with sheep and navigators — not 
thereby meaning sailors, but " unkempt" Irishmen, who labour upon 
the railroads — he will effect the passage from Auld Reekie to the Bor- 
der fortress at half price. From a former and cursory inspection of 
the Frith of Forth, I was anxious to view its lions at more leisure, and 
embarked myself and carpet-bag at 8 o'clock A. M., at Granton Pier, 
having stipulated that I was to be landed, wind and weather permitting, 
at North Berwick. This latter stipulation on the part of the canny 
Scot who commanded the Border Maid, and who, by the way, looked 
more like a moss-trooper than a mariner — was altogether unnecessary, 
for there was not a cap-full of wind, and the water was as smooth as a 
mill-dam. 

Of the succession of interesting objects which the Firth presents to 
the passing tourists, a summary given hy an old chronicler,* will con- 
vey a correct estimate. 

" In the middle of Forth, upon a rock is the fortresse and decayed 
castle of Inchgarvy. By east lies, in the same water, St. Colm's Inch, 
with a demolished Abbey, abundant with conies, and good pasturing for 
sheep. Next in the mid Firth, lyes Inchkeith, with a demolished for- 
tressie, fertile of conies, and gud for pasturing sheep. East from Inch- 
keith, within Forth, lyes a verie high and big rock, invironed with the 
sea called the Basse, invincible, havi^ig upon the top a fresh spring ; 
where the Solayne geese repayre much, and are verie profitable to the 
owner of the said strength. Next the Basse, in the mouth of the Forth, 
lyes the Isle of May, a mile long and three quarters of a mile in 
breadth. There was a religious house, with many fresh water springs, 
with a fresh loch, abundant with eeles. This isle is a goodly refuge 
for saylers in time of tempest." The last of the lions is the Inchcape 
in " the Germayne seas," with the usual account of the " Sea Pyrate, 
who stole the Abbot of Aberbrothick's bell or clocke," and the moral 

* A True Description of the Whol Realme of Scotland, &c., &,c. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 115 

appended, that " a yeare after lie perisht on the same rocke with shippe 
and goods, in the righteous judgment of God," and the chronicles might 
have added in the words of the Irish juryman, who accompanied his 
verdict of manslaughter with the brief but expressive remark, "^and 
sarve him right, too." 

To the antiquary there is no part of Scotland more extensive in me- 
morials of" lang syne," than the coast we skirted. The imposing ap- 
pearance of North Berwick Law, springing to a conical height of eight 
hundred feet from a circumjacent country perfectly level, is most re- 
markable. As we approached it, we passed close to several rocky 
islets. On one of them there were a few rabbits, and another is stocked 
with a less valuable quadruped, and, as the fishermen assert, is almost 
alive with rats. 

The signal from the steamer for a boat was promptly answered — 
and having duly covenanted that on his next transit down the Firth, I 
should re-embark in the Border Maid, I bade the commander a good 
passage, and was safely landed at the Royal Burgh. 

For " learned fools," I would conscientiously recommend North 
Berwick as head-quarters. They will be in reach of whole acres of 
ramparts and ditches — tumuli and encampments. They will see a 
hollow spot, where " a medal of Trajan, a fibula, a patera, and a horn 
of a moose deer," were discovered. In short, there is no place in the 
land of cakes, where they can puzzle themselves with more ease, and 
bore the remainder of mankind afterwai'ds with the result of their con- 
jectures. 

To me, the castle of Tantallon has a military, and Scott has con- 
ferred upon it a poetic interest. Even in its ruins, one can well ima- 
gine its primitive importance. Encompassed on three sides by the sea, 
the land-face, in former days, could have been its only vulnerable point, 
and the traces of a double ditch, and a high gK)und, on which field 
defences may still be traced, shows that it was, as far as the engineer- 
ing knowledge of the times went, fortified with care and skill. After a 
stormy history, during which it stood out for a long time against the 
fifth James, it was fated to falsify the proverb ; for in 1639, it was reg- 
ularly " ding-down'd " * by the Covenanters, and left the ruin that it 
now remains. 

I am occasionally one of those dreamy individuals who wander 
back to " auld lang syne," and as I sat on a fallen buttress, I looked at 
the fosse before the gateway which the draw-bridge had once spanned, 
and fancied that I saw Marmion " cutting his stick," and old " Bell-the- 
Cat " shouting " stop thief," after him. But the feeling of the ridicu- 
lous passed away — a chirping at my elbow caused me to turn round — 
a red-pole was my companion, and probably the sole tenant of Tantal- 
lon — occupant of walls which had once held the power of a king in 
check, and the " place of pride " of one of the most daring and unscru- 
pulous nobles of his day, the fierce Lord Archibald. I looked at the 
little representative of the Douglas, and muttered a "sic transit V 

Of monastic ruins there are in the neighbourhood an exuberant sup- 

* " Ding-down Tantallon — mak a brig to the Bass," meaning that one event was 
as possible as the other. 



11(5 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

ply — and west of North Berwick are the remains of the church of Gul- 
iane. The ruins, though extensive, would not probably interest the 
traveller, but for the fate of the last Vicar. Did the same authority 
exist now, how many bishops, priests, and deacons would be placed in 
jeopardy. This ill-used churchman was deposed by James the Sixth, 
his only crime an alleged partiality for tobacco ! 

Another ruin nearer the town, exhibits some broken walls and spa- 
cious vaults, and was formerly a nunnery — and a better fed community 
could not have been found in Britain. In 1562. their rental and rations 
comprised £556 lis. 8d. in hard cash, with nine chalders of wheat, 
nineteen of bear, fourteen of oats, three chalders of peas and beans, two 
of malt, eighteen oxen, two cows ; and for Lent and fast days, one last, 
and nine barrels of salmon ! Hefd I been living then, and pernjitted 
right of election touching residence between old Bell-the-Cat and my 
Lady Abbess, I would have declared for her reverence — and no mis- 
take ! 

Having made arrangements with the tacksman of the Bass, who 
rents the rock from the proprietor, one of the Dalrymple family I believe* 
— I started before daylight for the islet. Its general description is easily 
given. It is about a mile from the shore, and only accessible by the 
land-side ; this passage being formerly well defended, and at present 
secured from intrusion by a door, which after his daily visit, the tenant 
secures by turning a key, and literally locking up the island. Near 
the top of the rock there is good fresh water, and pasturage for a score 
of sheep. The qualities of the Bass are not only fattening, but as it is 
asserted, it gives the mutton a wild and most delicate flavour. It is 
rented by a butcher in Edinburgh, and as my informant deposed, " tho' 
it's no large eneugh to graze thirty, it's excuse eneugh to sell three 
hundred !" meaning thereby, that this iniquitous flesher palms upon the 
credulous, sheep which had led an innocent and retired existence among 
the Cheviots, and never had seen what old Drummond calls the " Solan- 
goosifera Bassa" in their lives. Indeed, the longer one sojourns in the 
world, he finds that to the artifice of " villainous man " there is no 
bounds. 

The rock originally belonged to the Lauder family, who, as it is 
stated, refused divers sporting offers for it from the Scottish Kings. 
Charles the Second, as George Robins would say, at last became the 
" fortunate possessor," and he kept it as a place of strength ; his brother 
James afterwards converting it into a prison for State offenders. Judg- 
ing from the extent of the existing ruins, the unfortunate detenu had 
but limited accommodation; although, like Justice Shallow's estate, 
there was there no scarcity of good air. In 1702, King William 
issued his " delenda," and, as a stronghold, the Bass was demolished. 

It is marvellous what mutations in this world men and things have 
undergone. On the Bass, originally, there was a monastic establish- 
ment, which migrated across the Frith to May Island, either for the 
sake of more room, or fresh eels — a valuable article in Lent. Then it 
became a place of strength, next a prison, and last, strange scene in its 
eventful history, a robber-haunt. 

* In 1706, Sir Hugh Dalrymple got the island at a bargain — price, a penny Scotch ! 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. HJ 

" After the Revolution, a desperate banditti got possession of it, and 
by means of a large boat, which they hoisted up and down the rock at 
pleasure, committed several robberies on shore, and took a number of 
vessels at sea. They held it, the last place in Scotland, for James ; 
but having at last lost their boat, and not receiving their usual supply 
of provisions from France, they were obliged to surrender."* 

As the season when the Solan geese are fit for taking had com- 
menced, and the tenant of the Bass had an extensive order to execute 
for the Edinburgh market, I had an opportunity of seeing the short and 
simple process by which the birds are killed. Some men ascended the 
rock, while the boat, in which J remained, pulled round, and lay upon 
its oars at the base of the tremendous precipices which beetle over the 
sea. Presently, a man was lowered by a rope over the I'idge above, 
and with a short stick, commenced knocking on the head such young 
gannets as he considered .sufficiently grown. The devoted birds fell 
from the rock by dozens, and it was our business, as they flopped 
heavily on the water, to pick them up. It was a strange and exciting 
scene. The frowning cliff which overhung us, was studded with in- 
numerable snowy specks ; for though a myriad of geese were wheeling 
round and round upon the wing, as many more remained upon the 
eggs, or. as if they wished to afford protection to their young ones — 
while a figure, that bore n® very distant similitude to the black doll 
which dangles over the door of a London rag-shop, was seen hanging 
between sky and sea, his whole dependence a few strands of hemp, 
which, if chafed by the face of the rock, would instantaneously consign 
this wholesale murderer to Pandemonium. 

After a sufficient supply of young Solans had been obtained, and I 
had visited the summit of the Bass, we rowed round the rock before we 
returned ashore. It appears to be a divided kingdom — for one face of 
the Bass is occupied by Solan geese, and the other exclusively tenanted 
with gulls, here termed kittiewakes. At a point below, which seemed 
to bound the feathery empire, the boat lay to, and a swivel was dis- 
charged. None save those who have witnessed, could have imagined 
the effect. By hundreds — thousands — birds flew screaming from the 
precipice, until more were on the wing than human computation could 
amount to. For a mile round, the sky was half-obscured, and a shower 
of thick, flaky snow, would convey the best idea of the dense masses 
and white plumage of the startled occupants of the Bass. 

The Solan goose produces a triple revenue. The first operation he 
undergoes, like a raw youth upon town, is plucking. Next, he suffers 
the penalty of high treason, and is disembowelled. A quantity of 
unctuous matter, varying from the size of a pigeon's egg to a man's 
hand, is thus procured ; and when melted, it is available for all the 
coarser purposes for which tallow is used, such as the greasing of 
carriage wheels and machinery. The last process consists in preparing 
the bird for market ; and there, as it would appear, the Solan goose 
meets with a steady demand, the North Berwick price being on an 
average about nine-pence. 

I was once obtested and implored by a brother officer, with whom I 
* History of North Berwick. 



118 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

had spent the autumn in garrison at Athlone,* never to sit in the dark 
with a man who could eat an eel ; as, according to his opinion, he, 
the eel-eater, was capable of committing any crime. Now in my sober 
judgment, and reckless of what any baillie or town-counsellor in Auld 
Reekie may say : I hold the cannibal who devours a Solan goose to be 
doubly dangerous. On my return in the steamer, one of these 
monsters was on board, and he assured me that he infinitely preferred 
a gannet to a stubble-goose ! From his own admission, the Solan has a 
most potent and offensive smell, both in culinary preparation, and when 
brought to table. In the second place, he informed me, that though 
enough of unctuous matter to grease a cart-wheel, had been previously 
extracted, it was necessary, when roasting, to puncture the bird's 
carcass to allow the interior supply of oil to exude. In the last place, 
he mentioned as a gastronomic recommendation, the fact, that a roasted 
Solan had the flavour of a fresh herring. This assertion was a settler, 
and I registered a vow in heaven never to hold communion with man or 
woman, to whom a solitary slice of a gannet could be traced. 

Of all the gull tribe, the Solan goose is the most beautiful ; and 
nothing can be more elegant than their gyrations in the air, before they 
make their arrowy dart to seize the prey, which, in the most turbulent 
sea, their unerring power of vision enables them to discover. I am told 
that in the Western Isles, this rare property of the bird is made 
subservient to its own destruction. A small fish or two are fastened to 
a flat board, which is left floating on the sea where the Solan geese are 
busy fishing. The gannet sees his prey, and makes his headlong stoop, 
and by a collision he does not calculate upon, he commits a sort o{ felo 
de se ; or rather, is murdered under false pretences. 

At the appointed time, and faithful to his engagement, the skipper 
of the Border Maid picked me up, and we returned to Berwick. The 
day was fine, and as the only literary resources on board were confined 
to an obsolete newspaper, I employed my time in taking a practical 
lesson in the culinary art, by watching the progress of the cabin 
dinner. The style of cooking pursued by the youth who presided over 
the steamer's galley was truly primitive, and was also in happy 
keeping with his hatteric de cuisine, which consisted of a frying-pan and 
a tin saucepan. Forks or forceps he had none, save those that nature 
had supplied him with. 

The dinner, whose preparation I viewed with so much interest, was 
simple but nutritious, and consisted of fried codlings and mutton chops. 
When the potatoes were boiled, on went the frying-pan, and the fish 
were popped into it, and when they were satisfactorily prepared, the 
mutton followed ; and while it hissed upon the pan, the youth, who 
seemed to unite considerable taste with cleanliness and comfort, turned 
the codlings up and down with his fingers, to ascertain in what position 
on the dish they would present the most insinuating attitude to the cabin 

* The quantity of eels taken in the Shannon is incredible. They are said to be 
the finest in Europe. The lower classes in the town live upon them during the time 
the fishery lasts, and at the dinner hour of the working people, the smell of broiling 
eels which pervades the dirty suburbs, conveys any sensation to the nose excepting that 
of Araby the blest. 



HILL^SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 119 

passengers. All being prepared, he proceeded to spread the festive 
board. " The fish and praties," as they say in Ireland, reached their 
destination safely ; but the chops were not so fortunate. In their 
transit to the cabin, the artiste who had cooked them stumbled over a 
dog, and the cutlets kissed the deck. But he seemed a lad of happy 
temper, and replaced them on the dish without murmur or delay ; 
while, as I presume, they had lost nothing by the fall. I being a man 
of vulgar prejudice, disliking " flesh fishified," almost as much as I 
abhorred a Solan goose, declined the captain's invitation, and waited 
patiently my arrival in Berwick for a salmon cutlet at the King's 
Arms. 

I believe no traveller of pretension can commence a tour now with- 
out his iatterie and cook — and, as I have been informed, the one is very 
heavy, and the other devilish troublesome. Before any Duke, Marquis, 
or Viscount sets out to effect a voyage by steam or canvass, and after- 
wards determines to adorn the literature of the age with a full, true, and 
particular narrative of the same, were the noble lord counselled by me, 
he would make one transit in the Border Maid from Leith to Berwick. 
There will he learn what may be effected with one tin saucepan and a 
frying-pan, and be practically convinced that there is truth in the old 
adage, that " fingers are before forks." 



CHAPTER XIX. 



The best day's fishing I have had yet, was in walking from Elmford 
to Matty Pringle's. 1 have oflen Q.aught more in weight, and more in 
number twice-told ; but the sprats which generally torment you seem 
to have been otherwise engaged, and nothing looked at the fly but a trout 
of some respectability. I wonder am I singular in taste ; for barring 
the trash cooked for cocknies at Greenwich, and whose flavour is en- 
tirely factitious — there is not in my opinion a more tasteless thing on 
earth than a plainly-dressed burn-trout. Meg has brought me a couple, 
but I repudiated them for her rashers and new laid eggs — and two tum- 
blers of toddy discussed, I am ready for the road. Five miles' walking 
will bring me to Grant's house — and a beautiful walk it is on a beauti- 
ful evening like the present one. At six I reached the railroad station 
— and in forty or fifty minutes arrived at Berwick, a distance, that would 
have consumed the best part of a morning a few years since. 

Bound for Northumberland ! and after a few days' sojourn here, I have 
bade a temporary farewell to the ancient and loyal town of Berwick, and 
crossed th-e " debatable land," en route to that sweet range of hills, 
which the proud Percy hunted in " lang syne," and where Widdrington 
— could faith be put in ballads — fought upon his stumps. My destina- 
tion is the little quiet town of Wooler, which lies at the bottom of the 
Cheviots — and I have reached it at noon, after a drive that would half 
unsettle the understanding of any Border antiquary who visited it for 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

the first time. The memorials of the past are frequent and well pre- 
served, and seem left like so many landmarks, to direct the traveller's 
attention to the romance of days gone by. 

One of the largest ruins of a Border tower is passed at Duddo. 
These ancient buildings are becoming rare — for most of the ancient 
peel-houses have been razed to the foundations to furnish materials for 
more peaceful and profitable erections, and their " coins of vantage " 
will now be found in neighbouring farm-steadings. The peel house of 
Duddo stands on a rocky know — and ere it became roofless and half- 
dismantled, commanded a bold view of the country for miles around. 
From its position being in advance of the more important castles of 
Etal and Ford, it might have been designed as well for a look-out tower, 
as a house of defence, in order to give notice to the garrisons of these 
places, that the unruly Borderers on the Scottish side were once more in 
the saddle ; and telegraph by the signal-fires then in use, whether the 
invasion were but a predatory foray, or, on the more extended scale of 
operations termed *' a warden raid." 

Etal is the Northumbrian Auburn, and no sweeter village was ever 
resorted to wherein to pass a honeymoon. The ruined castle is very 
picturesque, and from its close proximity to the village, one can ima- 
gine what was at those times generally the case, that the humbler of 
the body politic, three or four centuries ago, sheltered themselves beneath 
its walls for security. Etal looks now with its trellised cottages and 
blooming flower-knots, the very impersonation of quiet and repose; and 
if the banks of the river are not delighted with the melody of " the shep- 
herd's reed " — an instrument I never heard, or any body else, I fancy 
— they certainly are not "startled by the bugle-horn ;" and Scott's line 
might be equally applied to Till as Teviot — 

" All, all is peaceftil — all is still." 

In August, 1513, when James IV. invaded England, he reduced 
Wark and Etal, and then occupied Ford Castle, which he made head- 
quarters. Here he played Marc Antony with Lady Heron — and in- 
stead of pushing his opening success, allowed the English to cross the 
Till without opposition — about as great a military blunder as Marmont 
committed at Salamanca by extending his left ; and Wellington, in 
investing Burgos without artillery. 

Ford Castle has completely changed its character from a place of 
strength, and is now a mere baronial residence. It is, however, a fine 
relict of days gone by ; and from past associations, with a little ima- 
gination, a dreamer like myself may people it with " lords of high 
emprize," and high-born beauties — fancy that in this room of state he 
sees the amorous monarch enjoying a sober tcte-d-iete with the " witch- 
ing dame " — while in the next lobby, the Archbishop of St. Andrew's, 
according to Hollingshed, " a youth of promis," is romping with her 
daughter.* 

Ford Castle is one of the oldest strongholds in the debatable land. 
It was built in 1287, by Sir William Heron, but totally reconstructed 

* The Archbishop, a natural son of the fourth James, is said to have been as much 
fascinated with Miss Ford, as the King was with her mother. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 121 

in 1761, by Sir John Delaval, with the exception of the old flanking 
towers, on the east and west. Besides the very beautiful scenery 
of the valley of Wooler, Ford commands to the westward, and at the 
distance of a mile and a half, a fine view of Flodden. 

This memorable field of battle is a hill near the village of Branx- 
ton, and one of the lowest of those swelling grounds, which gradually 
decline from the higher ranges of the Cheviots in a north-easterly 
direction to the Tweed. As wejido not intend to describe a battle so 
frequently detailed before, and so well preserved in historic recollec- 
tion, it is sufficient to say that the position the Scottish King had chosen 
possessed great military advantages, which, unfortunately for himself 
and his country, were stupidly neglected. If the sad tissue of mistakes 
he committed did not originate in mistaken judgment, and not advisedly, 
as has been imputed to him, James should have exchanged his iron belt 
for a strait-waistcoat. Never did a Scottish army join battle with 
greater prospect of success ; and had the amorous monarch been a 
General, as Scott sings, 

" Flodden had been Bannockbum." 

It is hard to find apology for the royal folly which plunged a king- 
dom into mourning ; — and to his dallying time away at Ford and 
making false movements as he did at Flodden, no term of contempt can 
be sti'ong enough. The manliness of his death, however, half redeems 
his previous ofTendings — and had he been half so energetic in his efforts 
to ensure victory, as he was desperate in the vain hope of restoring " a 
Jost battle," the wail that every lowland valley and highland strath re- 
echoed, would have been heard from Tweed to Thames. 

" When the field turned decidedly against him," says McKenzie, 
" James, whose bravery kindled to an extravagance of courage at the 
perils which seemed now to surround him ; deaf -to every advice and 
remonstrance pressed forward, and exposed his royal person to all the 
dangers of the field. Being sustained by Bothwell and the reserve, he 
charged on foot, at the head of the best of his troops, whose armour had 
resisted the arrows of the English ; pressing forward to the standard 
of the Earl of Surrey, and with such ardour and valour, that they were 
nearly gained by the heroic phalanx. But, at length, the wings of the 
Scottish army being totally routed, all the English forces were directed 
against the centre, which was now totally surrounded by the coming 
in of Lord Dacre in the rear."* 

We stopped at Wooler. The inn excellent, and standing a short 
distance below the town, through which the coaches do not pass. There 
is a wedding party in the house, and they have gone out to breathe a 
little air after dinner, and passed our window. The bride is very 
pretty, and seems to be in excellent spirits ; the bridegroom might be 
the lady's father, and seems dolorous, as if he had been Provisional Di- 
rector, in the Great Swindlesex Grand Junction. Has the unhappy 
man, too late, seen the error of his choice, and discovered that a man of 
fifty-five, in marrying a girl rising twenty, proves himself an ass ? 
Well, go thy way ! I have no sympathy for old fools, whatever I may 
feel for young ones ! 

* History of Northumberland. 



122 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

When that agreeable practitioner, Dr. OUapod, is philandering to 
Miss Lucretia Mac Tab, and pointing out the beauties of the country 
and its local distinctions, to a question put to the lady as to what might 
particularly distinguish " sweet Surrey," he modestly observes that the 
principal lion of the neighbourhood was his "Cousin Crushjaw," of 
Casehorton, who lugged out a tooth without the slighest inconvenience 
to the patient ; but I have neither heard or seen aught to distinguish 
Wooler from other market towns, notj^ven a dentist — and we left next 
morning, en route to even a duller place, but with a population more 
active and enterprising, as is the case invariably, when sea-coast villa- 
ges are compared with inland towns. A successful night's herring- 
fishery had put the little town of North Sunderland in a bustle ; men, 
women, and children were actively engaged, and 
" Louder still the clamour grew," 
as several boats landed from the French vessels anchored off the pier 
to traffic as they do annually with the inhabitants, who are e.xclusively 
employed in the varied fisheries this coast affords. My companion 
pointed out at the entrance of the village what appeared to me a singu- 
lar object, — a new house, and that in ruins. 

"That," he said, "was the residence of the notorious Belany." 

The morale of Northumberland is respectable ; crime rarely occurs, 
I mean offences of the graver character, such as involve capital or 
transportable penalties ; and with the exception of paltry assaults, and 
other drunken delinquencies — which may always be expected to occur 
among a population engaged in fishing — few cases are brought before 
the local authorities. One personage, however — it might be libel-* 
lous to call a man criminal, whom a London jury pronounced guiltless 
— recently conferred upon this place a felonious notoriety ; but in com- 
mon justice to this r^ired sea-port, we must remark that the gentleman 
was not a native — and as ould Ireland presented Auld Reekie with Mr. 
Hare — Scotland, as a mark of gratitude for the compliment, favoured 
North Sunderland with Mr. Belany. 

After having been tried and acquitted — in the pride of his inno- 
cence, he sought the '^donius," although the "placens uxor" was wanting. 
No ovation awaited him ; for most perversely and irreverently differing 
from a learned Judge, and an enlightened jury, the North Sunderland 
fishermen heretically dissenting, on the evening of his arrival, hanged 
their distinguished townsman in effigy before his own door. Boys who 
play much at soldiers, generally at manhoood enlist. If the supension 
of a scarecrow, topped with a likeness of a celebrated individual cut in 
tui'nip, had been so much admired, surely the strapping up of the real 
Simon Pure, would be infinitely more imposing. To hang Mr. Belany 
in person, was therefore unanimously resolved upon ; and the next 
evening, the whole ''posse commiiatus" of the town, with a regular 
apparatus, repaired to the abiding place of the doomed one. 

Mr. Belany, however, declined the intended honour ; and levanting 
through the back-door, escaped strangulation for "the nonce." Irritated 
at losing time in rigging a gallows, for which a tenant was not pro- 
curable, the Northumbrians turned their fury on the house, and left it 
the ruin that it stands. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 123 

I have been indoctrinated in Conservative principles, and hold Britain 
to be the land of justice, but still, on legal points, the climate is not 
more influenced by locality. In one county, poor John Tawell was 
hanged — a man whose calamitous case drew tears from an Ex-Attor- 
ney-General — in the metropolis, Mr. Belany was acquitted. Now as 
every tale has, or should have its moral, I would recommend any gen- 
tleman who gets into trouble honourably, to appeal to a Galway jury, 
and he will be acquitted without a retirement from the box. If a ten- 
der husband administers a narcotic over strong, let him pin his faith on 
an English judge, and cockney panel. Go a step farther, and shoot a 
man in the public street — phoo ! there's balm in Gilead for you still — 
call in a couple of mad-doctors, and off you come clean as a whistle. 

Touching Mr. Belany's subsequent history and adventures, nothing, 
I believe, is known correctly. Some say that he has been gathered to 
his fathers, and others that he has migrated to the continent. I am a 
traveller by land and by water, and all I shall add will be a word of 
friendly advice. Should the gentleman ever by accident be my fellow- 
passenger, and a capfull of wind afTord a decent apology for an expia- 
tory sacrifice — by Saint Patrick ! I shall not be slow in finding a Jonas 
for " the nonce " — and overboard he goes ! 



CHAPTER XX. 



Nothing opens up a more curious and interesting subject for inquiry, 
than the manners and mode of life, which, from the time of the first 
William, distinguished that wild and warlike people, whether Scottish 
or English by birth or descent, but known by one general appellation 
as Borderers. 

Sprung from a union of different bloods, it would be hard to decide 
whether Celtic, Saxon, Danish, or Norman was the predominant ; for 
the unscrupulous severity of the Conqueror was exercised alike on any 
of these former races, who barred the rapid increase and permanent 
settlement of his bold followers — while feuds and jealousy among them- 
selves, produced a number of discontented men, who, fancying past ser- 
vices had not been adequately rewarded, either willingly exiled them- 
selves from the Norman court, or, for having named their grievances 
more plainly than a tyrant's ear will brook, were obliged to seek safety 
in a wilder locality, and evade the vengeance of that haughty usurper. 

From Malcolm, Alexander, and David I., kings of Scotland, these 
Anglo-Saxon and Norman exiles and fugitives received marked en- 
couragement, with grants of land : and from this varied stock, the 
proudest of the border families are descended. 

The difference in the lineage of these border chiefs — the undefined 
nature of their possessions — the fierce and warlike blood that filled 
their veins — all these tended to produce among themselves feudal jeal- 
ousies, invasion of property, and mutual violence. In one thing only 



J24 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

did they seem heartily united, and that was an implacable hostility to 
the Norman oppressoi's — a feeling, which the lapse of centuries could 
not abate or even mitigate. 

The wild system of the ancient Celtic laws, which inculcated an 
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and the system of clanship which 
was maintained even until after the union of the crowns, were eminently 
calculated to preserve the military spirit of a wild people in its pristine 
ferocity, and exclude from these martial septs, the wish to imitate in arts 
or industry those who had begun to cultivate more peaceful avocations. 
The spade and plough were rejected by the Borderer with contempt, 
while he boasted that his true inheritance was " spear and snaffle." As 
he shared liberally in the rude hospitality of his chief, and his family 
lived under the powerful protection of the head of the sept (generally 
of the same name), he did feudal duty in return, by warding his castle, 
and following him to the raid or battle-field. To him his fidelity was 
incorruptible, and his devotion knew no limits. What he desired was 
executed. To hear and to obey were synonymes ; and by men who 
held lifting (cattle robbery) to be an honourable calling, and were per- 
fectly reckless of shedding blood, the motive for harrying a district, or 
the object for which an obnoxious neighbour was removed, would not 
be considered worthy of inquiry. The remark most likely to be made 
by the Borderer would be, that " the chief had directed it to be done, 
and why the de'il should they fash themselves by asking why ?" 

It has been said that scenery, like locality, goes some length in the 
formation of human character ; and that men resident in wild solitudes, 
and among barren and rugged hills, acquire always a wildness of 
moral temperament, from the savage scenes which the eye continually 
rests upon. The borders, now so beautifully cultivated, were then 
dreary wastes and impassable morasses. Life and property were 
equally insecure. He who was harried over night, made slight inquiry 
next morning whether the cattle he lost were reclaimable ; the question 
to be solved was, where was the nearest and best flock — English or 
Scotch, Tyrian or Trojan — that would indemnify him for those that had 
been abstracted. If their own side of the Tweed promised a better or 
an easier raid, the borderer gave it the preference — but the moss-troop- 
ers in Tynedale and Redesdale were unscrupulous, and did not hesitate 
to take liberties with the sacred property of mother Church, bundling 
ofl^ the beeves of Hugh Pudsy, bishop of Durham — one of the most 
pugnacious priests in Britain ; and a prelate, according to general con- 
sent, reputed to be second to none in his day at anathematizing a 
sinner. 

These mountaineers appear to have been regularly bred to the pro 
fession ; and under parental instruction, they made their dales the envy 
of the border. " They come down," says old Grey (A. D. 1549), " into 
the low countries, and carry away horses and cattell so cunningly, that 
it will be hard for any to get them or their cattell, except they be ac- 
quainted with some master theife, who for some money (which they 
call saufey-money), may help them to their stoln goods agen." 

The utter disregard to " meum and tuum," in these amusing times, 
at present appears almost incredible. The father brought the son up 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 125 

systematically to the gallows ;* and his tender mother was not back- 
ward in inculcating the easiest maxims to the youth, touching the way 
that he should go. When the spence exhibited diminished supplies, the 
old lady insinuated to the loved pledge of her affections, that it was full 
time he once more took the saddle ; the hint being delicately conveyed 
by dishing up a pair of spurs ; and greatly would maternal joy be in- 
creased, if, in the gray of the next morning, she caught a distant pros- 
pect of the heir-apparent winding up the path — the early sunbeam 
glinting from his lance-head, and a strong advanced guard in his front 
— a flock of sheep — a score of beeves — and half a dozen horses to 
complete the thing. 

That a community so destitute of all moral principle could possess 
a shadow of religious feeling would be an absurdity to imagine, although 
the border was studded with monastic establishments, which, from the 
magnificent scale on which they had been erected and endowed, had 
swallowed up many a goodly manor, and crippled the revenues of the 
crown itself; the drones, who enjoyed luxuries which the barons could 
not aspire to, indulged in the most criminal excesses, and left their 
spiritualities utterly unattended to. Now and then, some priest of the 
Tuck standard, or him of Shoreswood, whom Scott describes as ready 
"to swear, and stab, and brawl," might visit the dwellings of the Bor- 
derers ; and by the pernicious influence of their bad example, establish 
a thorough contempt for every thing religious in men who seemed not 
to comprehend that any distinction existed between right and wrong. 
Possibly a year would elapse between the visits of these straggling 
monks ; some book-bosom, as he was termed by the wild riders from 
the breviary he carried in his breast, might occasionally drop in ; but 
for his holy offices and advice the hot-blooded and ignorant moss-troop- 
ers would not tarry : and for the sacrament of matrimony, they intro- 
duced the immoral substitution of a ceremony which tliey named 
*' handfasting ;" one in which the man and woman lived together until the 
priest arrived, and then were at perfect liberty to declare " on or off* 
without forfeit," if they had wearied of each other's society in the in- 
terim, or discovered that their tempers did not assimilate. 

Indeed, the general example of every grade of churchmen at this 
time (A. D. 1500, et ante) was far from being instructive. Fox, bishop 
of Durham (1495), complains that dissolute and uncanonical priests 
administered the rites and sacraments of the holy church to the Tyne 
and Redesdale moss-troopers and murderers. One Cressingham, a 
monk, never wore any coat but one of mail, and, in his armour, his 
reverence was fairly sped at last. Nor was the bench without unruly 
ornaments. The bishop of Carlisle was nearly as troublesome as any 
repeal bishop at present in " the land of saints." The example of the 
clergy was not thrown away upon their flocks ; and he of Durham 
appears to have been obliged to excommunicate largely both priests and 
laymen. The former were suspended ex officio — while the penance 
imposed upon the latter, indicates the wild habits of the times. The 

* " There is many every yeare brought in of them into the gaale of Newcastle, 
and at the assizes are condemned and hanged, sometimes to (the number of) twenty 
or thirty." — Survey of Newcastle, 1549. 



126 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

offending moss-troopers were interdicted ^rom entering and conversing in 
a church, riding any horse above the value of six shillings and eight -pence, 
or wearing a jack and head-piece for a twelvemonth. 

Even as late as the reign of Elizabeth, the border clergy, as well 
as the borderers themselves, were lax on religious subjects beyond be- 
lief. Bishop Pilkington complains, that these rude churchmen went 
always armed with swords and daggers, and dressed in garments whose 
cut and colour were desperately uncanonical : and whenever James 
VI. had a row with the Kirk, he invariably employed the Scottish Bor- 
derers as " thirdsmen." An anecdote is recorded by the founder of 
the Cameronians, which proves that Annandale, in the time of that 
fanatic, was considered as nearly " past praying for." Having been 
ordered to attack the lady of Babylon in that favourite stronghold of her 
who sitteth on seven hills, poor Dick remonstrated — and indeed Annan- 
dale was an unpromising vineyard in which to commence his labours 
of love. But Mr, Welch said, " Go your way, Ritchie, and set the fire 
of hell to their tails !"* If he did not actually give them a " scorcher," 
Cameron, it would appear, in his opening discourse, declared them 
every thing but honest. Some men may be persuaded, others are best 
managed when dragooned. The rougher alternative agreed best with 
the Annandale sinners, for, quoth Mr. Cameron's biographer, " some of 
them had a merciful cast that day." 

A more successful and Christian missionary was found afterwards, 
however, in Mr. Gilpin, a nephew of Tunstal, bishop of Durham. 
Coquetdale, in Northumberland, was at this time infested with outlaws, 
moss-troopers, and gipsies ; and the wild townsmen of Rothbury, among 
the lawless community which inhabited a district of infamous reputa- 
tion, were held pre-eminently barbarous. This was the favourite 
scene selected by Mr. Gilpin for his spiritual exertions, and the savage 
character of those he exercised his ministry upon may be readily con- 
jectured from the following occurrence : — 

On Sunday, when preaching in the church of Rothbury, two parties 
of armed men met accidentally in the aisle, and being at feud, they 
instantly prepared to decide their differences on the spot, and desecrate 
the house of God, by making it the theatre of a bloody contest. Mr. 
Gilpin rushed from the pulpit, and fearlessly interposed his own person 
between the infuriated combatants, who were advancing upon each other 
sword in hand ; and, by a burst of holy eloquence, arrested the con- 

* The use of infernal agency in reclaiming sinners, I thought, was altogether an 
Irish contrivance, before I met with the valedictory order given to Mr. Cameron by his 
commanding officer. I recollect going with a military party to attend an execution in 
the kingdom of Connaught, and, as is always the case in that peacefiil and pleasant 
comer of the earth, a large concourse of spectators had collected. When the criminal 
appeared on the scaffold, a volley of prayers were poured out for the repose of his soul ; 
and when the drop, fell, after " a cry of women," deep silence followed. Suddenly it 
was interrupted by a very pretty girl, exclaiming, " Holy Saint Antony ! Isn't it aur- 
prisin that the devil himself won't knock the fear of God into the hearts of the people !" 

" What's wrong wid ye, Biddy, jewel 1" said an old gentlewoman to the fair com- 
plainant. 

" Wrong wid me 1" returned the young lady ; " Havn't they taken fourpence half- 
penny in brass, and the dhudieene out of my brother Mick's breeches pocket, before 
the dead man gave the tliird kick?" 



HlLL-SlDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. J^f 

^1' 
flict, and obtained a promise from the leaders on both sides, that they* 
would not only respect his presence and the church, but also would sit 
out the sermon. This admirable man then remounted the pulpit — and 
such was the fervour of his impassioned address, that, though he failed 
to heal the feud entirely, he received an assurance — and it was faith- 
fully kept — that while he remained in Rothbury, not a blow should be 
stricken, nor an angry word be interchanged. 

On a subsequent visit, through the neglect of his servant, his horses 
were stolen, and when the robbery was bruited about, the greatest in- 
dignation was expressed by his wild and lawless congregation. The. 
thief, who, like a true Borderer, neither knew nor cared to whom the 
horses belonged, accidentally heard that they were the property of Mr. 
Gilpin. Instantly he led them safely back, -restored them with a 
humble request to be forgiven, which he accompanied by a declaration,^ 
that he believed the devil would have seized him on the spot, had he 
knowingly dared to intermeddle with aught that belonged to so good a 
man. Such was the moral character of the border, even in the time 
of good Queen Bess. 

As a military people the Borderers were most formidable ; war 
was their delight and occupation ; and every passion which is supposed 
to sway the human heart was, in their estimate, held but in secondary 
consideration. Scott's beautiful impersonation of a thorough borderer 
in his celebrated namesake, Wat of Harden, is the perfect picture of a 
lawless baron. 

" Marauding chief! his whole delight 

The moonlight raid, the midnight fight ; 

Not e'en the flower of Yarrow's charms. 

In youth, could tame his rage for arms." 

A community always takes its character fi-om a chief; and the re- 
tainers of honest Wat were of that order which in Ireland is termed 
*' loose lads." In military exercises, the chase, and the foray, the Bor- 
derer passed his youth. No alarm, however sudden or unexpected, 
could find him unprepared, and " Ready, aye ready," was his motto. 
Nothing with the Borderer was designed for show, save the finery of 
his wife or mistress. His own clothes were plainly made, and showy- 
colours were studiously avoided. His arms were generally a jack, or 
leather coat, and steel cap ; his horse was small, active, and enduring ; 
and his arms, a long, light lance, a trusty sword, and a bow of tremen- 
dous power — a weapon, in his hands, wielded with admirable dexterity. 
It is a singular fact, that although almost every defeat which the 
Scotch sustained in their border wars, was justly attributed to the 
marked superiority of English archery, they never took any effective 
means to raise themselves, in this powerful arm of ancient warfare, to 
an equality with their more skilful opponents. Military men are some-^ 
times as crotchety as ex-lord chancellors, and within the last few years 
it has been gravely asserted, that the long bow is preferable to the 
musket, "that queen of weapons." Although learned Thebans hare 
consumed much paper in maintaining and refuting this question, it will 
be enough to observe, that the bow to the musket, is, in ratio, about 
■what a blunderbuss is to Warner's long range. You can make a re^ 



128 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

cruit — if you only will take the trouble, and expend the necessary' 
ammunition — a good hit-and-miss shot in a week, while half a life 
would be required to turn out an archer. Even the preliminary ar- 
rangements to introduce the long bow would be troublesome ; you 
should have, imprimis, to re-enact the conqueror's game laws, restore 
Sherwood forest, import a million of deer, outlaw your archers as soon 
as you enlist them — and yet after a seven years' run, and a venison 
diet during the apprenticeship, I should decline, with the best regiment 
the forest had then produced, to come to conclusions with a battalion 
of the rifle brigade. 

As the severity of the first William's forest laws induced desperate 
men to band together who had incurred the poaching penalties which 
the usurper had introduced, so also, the feverish state of the borders, 
half sylvan and half warlike, rendered their wild occupants as expert 
with the gray-goose-shaft, as those noted marksmen who walked Wat- 
ling-street by moonlight ; and as merrie Sherwood had its Robin Hood, 
Will Scarlet, and Little John, so did the border boast her Adam Bell, 
Wat Tinlin, and Clym of the Cleugh, and a host of artists still cele- 
brated in half-forgotten ballads. 

The bow in general favour with the English and border archers, 
varied in length from five feiet eight inches to six feet — with a bend, 
when strung, of nine or ten inches. Its power was proportionate to the 
archer's arm, its length regulated by his height, and the weapon gen- 
erally adapted to the physical strength of him who used it. The best 
bows were made of the boll of yew tree, of which, part only were of 
native growth, many of them being imported from foreign countries ; 
the string was silk or hempen, twisted and plaited, but always rounded 
in the middle to receive the arrow's notch ; and the shaft itself was 
constructed of hard and soft woods, and ash, oak, and birch were used 
by the fletcher according to the purpose for which the arrow was in- 
tended. It was feathered from a goose wing, and in length ranged 
from thirty inches to three feet. The military arrow was thirty-two 
inches, and pointed with plain iron. At short range, the shaft was 
drawn to the ear ; at long flight or shooting, in archery parlance, " at 
rovers," the notch arid string were brought to the breast, the archer 
fixing his look upon the object aimed at with both eyes open, until he 
delivered his arrow. 

Light, daring, and desultory warfare, was that which was best suit- 
ed to the Borderer. He neither understood, nor attempted to understand, 
the pedantic fooleries enacted in those days by antiquated commanders. 
For siege service he was unfitted, and to camp duties he would not con- 
form. In Somerset's expedition, a sad complaint is made of *' the 
northern prickers," who, " with great enormitie, and not unlyke unto 
a masterless hounde howyleing in a hie way when he hath lost 
him he wayted upon, sum goe hoopying, sum whistelying, and most 
crying" their leaders' names, and " rendering the campe more lyke 
the outrage of a dissolute huntying, than the quiet of a wel ordred 
army." 

And yet, in the border character, wild and sanguinary as it might 
occasionally prove itself, many redeeming shades were discoverable. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. X29 

Were a prisoner taken, his parole was only required, to pay at a fixed 
period, the amount of ransom that had been agreed upon — and when 
that was given, he was not retained another minute under durance. 
Border faith was alsoimmaeulatc — and the prickers that would harry 
the widow of her last cloot, and fire the byers " to give her light to set 
her hood," would not " bewray ony that trusted them for a' the gold in 
England and France." They would also meet occasionally, in good 
faith, and hold friendly intercourse — and men who had forayed each 
jther within a fortnight, would ride a chase side by side, or join in the 
favourite pastime of football. 

Even, and until a late period, this manly game, like Irish hurling- 
flfiatches, called into action the elite of adjacent parishes, and on the 
borders, the flower 6f the kingdoms. In 1790, after the sword had been 
sheathed for nearly a half century, the Liddesdale reivers, or rather 
their descendants, met those of the Tynedale snatchers,* and a match 
of three games was played in the presence, as it is computed, of twenty 
thousand spectators, by twenty chosen dalesmen at either side. The 
skill, activity, and endurance displayed on that occasion, is still spoken 
of in the pride of former days, and it is a border boast that a father or 
an uncle was one of the selected champions. Four games were ardent- 
ly contested, victory declared for none, for each won two. The fifth 
conferred the laurel upon Tynedale — " Non sine pulvere palmam," 
might have been correctly applied to the contest. Most of the players 
were unable to leave the field — and not a few died subsequently from 
the effects of overtaxed exertion. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Birr there was another point of view in which the Borderer's char- 
acter was estimable ; he was an ardent lover and a faithful husband — 
he married purely from inclination — no sordid considerations influenced 
his choice — and the best booty he acquired by sweat and blood, was 
lavished upon his mistress.f 

One point more of border character requires to be noticed. These 
wild and martial people were both bards and poets ; many beautiful 
reliques of their music are remaining ; and some of the sweetest bal- 
lads, which have been modernized, were originally composed by some 
outlaw lurking in a dell, or a lover when shut up in a peel-house. 

The government of the borders was a strange anomaly. It was 

* " Full oft the Tynedale snatchers knock 
At his lone gate, and prove the lock." 

Lay of the Last Minstrel. 
+ " The Borderers were very particular in forming connexions. A stout man 
would not marry a Uttle woman, were she ever so rich ; and an Englishman was pro- 
hibited by the march laws, from marrying a Scotch woman, were she ever so honest." 
—Daizell's Fragments. 

9 



130 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

semi- military and half-civil. The marches were subdivided into three, 
and denominated east, west, and middle, and each division was held by 
a powerful noble. Ostensibly the business of these wardens was to 
maintain peaceable relations between the countries, but too frequently, 
a fiery baron would be " the first to pit the kiln in a low ;"* and as his 
authority was despotic, he would conclude a truce or make an inroad 
according, as O'Connell said of the Iron Duke, to the state his biliary 
organs might have been in at the time. The English head-quaners 
were, for the east division, Alnwick or Ber-vvick ; the castle of Harbottle 
was the central ; and, when wardens of the western marches. Lord 
Scroop resided at " Merrie Carlisle," and Belted Will (Lord Howard) 
in his own castle of Naworth. 

Of course, the commissions of wardenship lay in the crown ; but 
the crown generally had, in both countries, about as much liberty of 
election, as the queen (God bless her ! ) has at present in the nomination 
of a bishop. On the English side, these appointments were always in 
the hands of the Percys, Howards, Clifibrds, Dacres, &c. ; and on the 
Scottish marches, in those of some border chief. Were an alien 
appointment made by the minister of the crown, a very decided veto 
would be given by him who considered himself as better entitled to 
hold the office. During the minority of James V., when Albany named 
a favourite French knight to the wardenship of the east marches. Home 
of Wedderburn — to whose family this division had been generally 
intrusted — put in a caveat against the regent's nomination, and by a 
very simple process vacated the appointment. f 

As in the wardens lay the military command, so also, they exercised 
the judicial functions, and all border differences were, in times nominally 
peaceful, submitted to their mutual decision. The complainants stated 
their cause of injury — the defendants pleaded in mitigation of damages, 
or " not guilty" altogether. After all the cases were heard, the 
wardens struck a balance, and the past was " wiped clean from off the 
slate," — and the Borderers opened a running account immediately. In 
fact, a warden-court, if the judges did not fall out themselves and come 
to blows — a very common occurrence, produced a plenary pardon, and 
acted as a general judicial absolution. " Gie us a kiss, Mysie, woman," 
exclaimed a moss-trooper, on his return from one of these convenient 
assizes; "tho'they brought thirteen robberies and twa murders agen 
me, I'm assoilzied from them a'. Was it na strange that they did na 
hit me in ane o' them — an that every charge trickled aff me, like water 
aff" a dook ?" 

In one instance, the border code agreed with that of the most 
independent and enlightened nation at present in existence ; and only 
that the name is decidedly Milesian, I should be inclined to believe that 
the American Lycurgus, had been a border emigrant. When the 
wardens held an assize, it never proved a maiden one. " At these 
courts," says a Northumbrian historian, "offenders were frequently 

* Anglici — Raise the flame. 

t Home killed the Sieur de Bastie — struck off the Frenchman's head — knitted it by 
the long locks to his saddle-bow — carried it off- — and afterwards exposed it on a turret 
of Home Castle ! 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 131 

hanged without any process of law whatsoever. When marauders 
were once seized upon, their doom was short and sharp — the next tree, 
or the deepest pool of the nearest stream, were indifferently used on 
these occasions." See here, the fine ethical effect of a system that has 
immortalized the name of Lynch. The wardens were men of business 
— they came to assert the majesty of the law ; and how can the majesty 
of law be better asserted, than by strapping up a few offenders " to 
knock the fear of God" into the remainder of the rest ? Would Belted 
Will, or Kerr of Cessford waste their valuable time in listening to a 
cock and bull story from a queen's counsel, or stand the tears of an ex- 
solicitor-general ? Not they, marry. Up went the accused — and at 
more leisure they entered into further particulars touching the crime 
for which they hanged him. The simplicity of this process also, while 
it made a clean and quick jail delivery, inculcated a fine lesson of 
resignation. An eel — if you can believe a cook — from sheer custom 
care5 nothing about skinning ; and Lynch law had a similar effect upon 
the Borderers — for, saith their historian quaintly, " they were thus 
accustomed to part with life with the utmost indifference." 

Another part of the criminal jurisprudence in practice on the border, 
was the appeal to single combat * — a process, certainly, that obviated 
" the law's delay ;" and all, noble or humble, lay or ecclesiastic, save 
majesty itself, and some half dozen mitred dignitaries, were liable to 
undergo this challenge. f It saved all manner of forensic expense — 
admitted of neither demurrer nor replication — and the appeal was to a 
higher court, and even a higher authority than the lord chancellor. No 
writ of certiorari would be granted — no bill of exceptions would be 
allowed — and if the accused denied the charge, the complainant " must 
enter the lists either personally, or by a delegated champion." 

It cannot be denied that this system of settling monetary matters 
would be objected to in the present day by traders generally ; and if a 
gentleman lost a horse or two, he would find but little satisfaction in 
being authorized to fight the thief. Now-a-days, a commercial travel- 
ler expects payment of account, and not " a reference to God in single 
combat," when he hands in his bill of particulars. On the laity, this 
mode of settlement was occasionally oppressive ; and it was any thing 
but equitable, to array a catch-weight gentleman who had been robbed, 
against some burly thief, who might, with perfect confidence, shy his 
castor into the ring even for the modern championship. But on holy 
church this border code was most oppressive. The Lord's anointed 
were open to general challenge — and certainly nothing could be more 
unfair or more iniquitous. Fancy the case of a mitred abbot, when he 

* " A cross, made out of the wood which composed the table of St. Cuthbert, and 
on which he had been in the habit of eating his meals, was preserved at the decay or 
destruction of the Saxon church, and placed on the altar of St. Cuthbert in the Norham 
church. Before this relic persons accused of crimes used to declare their innocence, 
before they waged battle in proof of their assertion. Reginald has recorded an in- 
stance of a duel fought at Midhop, in the presence of Swain, priest of Fishwick, who 
was his contemporary." — Gilly's Historic Sketch of Norham. 

t " To prevent measures of forcible retaliation, which would render the borders 
a constant scene of uproar and bloodshed, matters of difficult proof were referred to 
the judgment of God in single combat." — Mackenzie's View, ^c, <J-c. 



132 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

had lost his favourite mule, and the convent, probably, a score of oxen 
— the thief is known — denounced — denies the charge — and instead of 
making carnal restitution, insists that the injured dignitary shall tilt 
with him even to the death ! Well, the abbot is a portly gentleman — ' 
as abbots ought to be — one on whom, like Father Philip in the play, the 
grace of Heaven has thriven marvellously. He, the worthy church- 
man, has " gone extensively to waistcoat " — and the balcony in front, 
plainly proves that other things beside water will " swell a man " — to 
wit, " fat capon " and treble X. Well, shall this holy personage, — 
who at scale will turn twenty stone, who leadeth a pacific life, filling 
the intervals which occur between the given periods when he slumbers 
in his stall or snores in his dormitory, in fortifying the citadel, namely, 
the stomach — shall he, who even to gain the saddle would be to occasion 
an exertion that would leave him panting for ten minutes — shall he be 
obliged to set-to with a Christie o' the Clint hill, or Willie of Westburn- 
flat ? — fellows who, barring skin, consist of nothing personally but bones 
and sinews ?"* 

It is true that holy men — unless they were lions of the fold of Judah, 
like Priest Cressingham, Friar Tuck, and Doctor Machale — might fight 
by proxy ; but a substitute for the militia could not have involved a 
heavier expense. The ill-used churchman was obliged to pay, mount, 
and arm his champion. Well, what was the result ? If his reverence 
had luck, he made the borders shorter of a highwayman ; but if his 
man was " polished off"," and such was the case generally, the poor 
priest was incarcerated in his den — one, that secular hands dare not 
violate — until he could satisfy the living man by an apology, and com- 
promise for the dead one, by offering masses for his soul's repose. 

When peace nominally existed between the countries, and the war- 
dens on both sides seriously desired to repress the exiles and outlaws, 
who could claim no country and owned no lord, the border laws were 
resorted to, and the bounds of the respective kingdoms, were not 
allowed to protect the moss-trooper when he lifted. The wardens, or 
their officers were permitted to exercise the " hot-trod " — as they 
termed it — and cross the opposite border not only unopposed, but 
assisted, if they required assistance. When the alarm was given, it 
was necessary to carry a lighted peat upon a spear-point, and raise hue- 
and-cry with bugle and bloodhound. All Scotch or English were 
bound to join in the pursuit, and to arrest the " posse," or stop the 
sleuth-dog, was a capital oflfence.f The latter, however, was easily 
effected by foiling his scent with blood — and the former received as 



* In 1216 Ralph Gubium was Prior of Tynemouth, and was sadly tormented by a 
sinful layman, named Simon, who set up a vexatious claim to " two corrodies," which 
Ralph would rather not part with. Now, the affair would have led to a chancery snit, 
but the disputants agreed to leave it to a fair stand-up fight, a clear stage, and no 
favour — and the best man and his owner to win. The Abbot of Saint Albans was 
appointed stakeholder and referee. Simon was wide awake, engaged the best fighting 
man to be found, and the' holy champion was defeated. Honest Ralph felt so much 
mortified at his man being polished off, that in a pet, he resigned his priory. 

t " Nullus perturbet, aut impediat canem trassantem, aut homines trassantes cum 
ipso, ad sequendum latrones." — Segiam Magistatem, lib. iv. cap. 32. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. I33 

much aid and assistance from their brother Borderers, as an Irish 
gauger would from the " finest pisantry upon earth."* 

* An eccentric countryman of mine, some years since gathered to his fathers, had 
a decided fancy for hunting, and the hvehest horror of a puppy. To describe his cha- 
racter would be useless — no Englishman could comprehend it. His house, his horse, 
liis person were unique ; and according to the trite adage — " None but himself could 
be his parallel." 

The year before Waterloo, on " Saint Stephen's day, that blessed morn," as the 
old hunting ballad has it, we met at the cover side — and R. R. R. (his alliterative initials 
will be recognised by many who remember him) was there, as might be expected. His 
costume, that day, was more remarkable 'than usual : a threadbare scarlet jacket ; a 
battered hunting-cap, ornamented with a branch of bog-myrtle ; corduroy tights ; the 
continuation of one, being a jockey-boot, and that of the other, a hussar one. He car- 
ried an enormous thonged whip, and through the three upper buttonholes of his seedy 
jacket, he had a stumped pipe {Hibernice, a dhudheeine) inserted. 

I had scarcely paid R. R. R. the customary morning compliments, when a young 
Light Dragoon, whose regiment was quartered in a neighbouring garrison, rode up. He 
was the son of a London tradesman ; and one of the most stupid and intolerable puppies 
in existence. Nothing could be more precise than his costume. His coatee had ema- 
nated from Nugee's ; his fie-for-shames were delicately white ; his boots were decidedly 
Gilberts ; and his gloves were kid skin. In a word, he was as nice a young man as 
Cockayne and a cavalry regiment could turn out. He pulled up on the opposite side 
to R. R. R. — one look was interchanged between them — that look was perfectly conclu- 
sive. 

" M — ," observed the dragoon, " what a horrible person your friend with the odd 
boots is !" 

" I must drive a nail, or I'll faint," exclaimed R. R. R., drawing out a pocket pistol 
that would hold a pint of whiskey, and taking a heavy slug ; " Whisper, Mac ! By 
the eternal frost ! I have given that fellow at once my everlasting aversion. Tell him, 
I'll settle sixpence a-week upon him for life, if he will only keep out of my sight for 
ever." I need scarcely add, that neither of these flattering observations were commu- 
nicated. 

In Ireland, certain professions are supposed to be obnoxious alike to " men below 
and saints above." In subterranean statistics there is a place called Fiddler's Green, 
three miles and a half in the world's side of Pandemonium, where the downward 
career of a tithe-proctor might be stopped, or even an attorney arrested, if he died 
penitent and provided a fund for his soul's weal. But for a gauger there is no chance ; 
down he goes, booked through direct — and the united prayers of the Propaganda 
could not arrest his progress. 

In olden time, on St. Stephen's day, (26th December,) every master of hounds 
turned out in honour of his patron, and the peasantry came on by hundreds. There 
was, on this occasion, a false alarm of a find, and a couple of fences were crossed. 
The last was a rasper ; and the dragoon — no better horseman than Cockneys are 
usually — was glad of an apology to turn over. R. R. R. who had fenced the double 
ditch cleverly, hearing the voice of the dismounted dragoon calling upon the mob to 
arrest the fiigitive, bellowed from stentorian lungs — " Arrah ! boys, jewel ! what are ye 
about 1 Won't ye stop the gauger' s horse, for the love of Jasus ?" 

" The gauger !" exclaimed a gentleman who had been regularly cleaned out the 
week before by a foray of the revenue. " Oh ! the curse of Cromwell light heavily 
upon all of the name. May the horse go, where he'll go himself — the robber — and 
that's to the devil ;" and he shied, what is called in Ireland a caubeein, and in Eng- 
lish " a shocking bad hat," at an animal already predisposed to levant. " The 
ganger's horse !" responded the proprietor of a poteeine-house, as he launched a boul- 
teeine* at the flying quadruped. " Along the line the signal ran ;" and while an inde- 
pendent fire of cudgels and caubeeins responded to it faithfiiily, the younger portion 
of the community aided and assisted by a pebble or a sod, as either came more readily 

to hand. It is enough to say, that Cornet F met his horse at the barrack gate 

late in the afternoon ; the animal having crossed eighteen miles of country, and the 
* Anglic^ — a cudgel. 



134 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 



The savage mode of living maintained upon the border until the 
union of the crowns, may be easily accounted for, when one remembers 
that life and property were merely held, as if they were held from day 
to day. The moss-troopers were always on the alert ; and they, act- 
ing as they did on the faith of the good old Highland adage, that the 
" ganging foot's ay getting," were always on the qui vive. A man 
went to bed at night in independent circumstances, and in the morning 
he rose in poverty that might have competed with Job's ; although in 
patience, the latter would beat the Borderer hollow. These visitations 
were every day occurrences ; but what were the moonlight operations 
of the prickers — for generally their captions could be redeemed by the 
payment of " saufey-money " — to the wholesale destruction perpe- 
trated when a warden made a raid, or a king's lieutenant crossed the 
marches ? The sword, heaven knows ! is sharp enough ; but when 
accompanied by the firebrand it is pitiable.* As Burns would sing, 
my Lord Evers and Sir Brian on the following year " gat their fairins," 
and most deservedly. In surpassing cruelty this royal raid f was 
worthy of the monster who had ordered it (Henry VIII.), and Evers 
proved himself a proper instrument. Among other barbarities he 
burned the town of Rroomhouse, and the lady and her children perished 
in the flames. 

On his retreat, the English general was pursued by a hasty levy of 
Scottish horsemen, under Lord Angus, and some Fifeshire men, brought 
up by Norman Leslie. Finding his rear pressed, Lord Evers declined 
crossing the Tevio% and offered battle upon Ancram Moor. Angus 
hesitated to accept the challenge, until Scot of Buccleugh joined him 
with some chosen retainers. His arrival confirmed Angus's wavering 
resolution, and finesse enabled the Scottish leaders to inflict upon the 
marauders one of the deadliest defeats on border record. Under the mask 
of retreating, the Scots retired behind the high ground they had occupied, 
and formed on a level surface behind it called Panierheugh. Evers 
advanced ; he crossed the abandoned height ; sun and wind was in his 
eyes ; and under the dip of the hill he found the Scotch, in position, 
and ready to receive troops blown with their previous exertions. Their 

owner about nine — as the crow flies. Neither the cavalier or his charger were seen 

for a fortnight ; and during the remainder of the season Mr. F never even looked 

. at a hound. 

* The official return of the inroad made by Evers and Latoun, in 1544, will give 
a pretty accurate idea of the enormities committed at the time : — 

" Towers, towns, bamakynes, parysh-churches, bastell-houses, burned and 
destroyed 

Scots slain 

Prisoners taken 

Nolt (cattle) carried away 

Shepe 

Nags and geldings 

Gayt (goats) . 

Bolls of Corn 

Insight gear (household effects) beyond compute." — Exploits don upon the Scotta, 
from the beginving of July to lltk November, 1544. — Hayne's State Papers. 

1" The royal Bluebeard was rendered savage at the time, by a breach of marriage 
between his son Edward, and the infant Queen of Scotland. 





193 




403 




826 




10,336 




12,492 




1,296 




200 




850 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 135 

nssault was bloodily repelled. Of Evers's army (2500 men) 700 were 
broken clans and border refugees. They were termed " assured Scot- 
tishmen;" but theire proved but punica Jides. When the English 
recoiled, the Borderers tore the red crosses from their breast, joined 
their countrymen, and assailed their former allies ; and a desperate 
and unrelenting slaughter ensued. " Remember Broomhouse !" was 
the fearful slogan ; and in most cases, quarter was refused. The 
English leaders fell ; and scarcely a hundred escaped from this fatal 
field. 

The Scots retaliated English cruelty — indeed, to an extent that 
might equal Indian vengeance — and inroad after inroad was made on 
each side. The barbaric waste committed in these disgusting expedi- 
tions were worthy of Goth and Hun. Lord Hertford ruined the beauti- 
ful abbeys of Dryburgh, Melrose, Jedburgh, and Kelso ; and in 1570, 
Lord Su-ssex destroyed, entirely or partially, fifty castles and houses of 
defence, and nearly three hundred towns, villages, and farmhouses. 

The union of the crowns amalgamated the countries, and border hos- 
tilities nationally ceased. But as the proverb goes, " it is ill teaching 
an old dog tricks ;" and it would be difficult to induce a hardened moss- 
trooper to exchange the lance for the spade. But the edict for their sup- 
pression had now gone forth ; and it would appear that the statutory en- 
actment which afterwards was found so efficacious in the Highlands, 
was at this period equally serviceable upon the border — that was, inter- 
dicting all but " gentlemen of rank and respect " from carrying wea- 
pons. Other circumstances assisted to quiet the district. A war in the 
Low Countries gave employment to part of its unruly population ; and 
with the assistance of the hangman, the Earl of Dunbar proved that 
leather is not comparable to hemp. " He executed many without the 
formality of a trial," ssys Mackenzie, " and it is even said, that in mock- 
ery of justice, assizes were held upon them after they had suffered." 
Well, on the same admitted principle, that dead men tell no tales, his 
lordship considered that a dead mgfn would not move for a new trial, and . 
therefore that the assizes would pass pleasantly. 

The snake was scotched, not killed ; and the civil wars in the reign 
of the first Charles, gave the moss-troopers an opportunity of resuming 
their old occupations with pleasure and profit. But at the Restoration, 
they were done up as regularly as mail-coaches are now by railroads ; 
and a tremendous statute was levelled by Charles IL against " a great 
number of lewd, disorderly, and lawless persons, being thieves and rob- 
bei-s, who are commonly called moss-troopers." But still the Borderers 
were true to their vocation — plundered with success — and escaped jus- 
tice with impunity. " The fifteen," seems to have been the concluding 
epoch in their history ; and with Forster's and Derwentwater's most 
impotent imeute — in which the Borderers joined heartily — the annals of 
the moss-troopers appear to close. 

These rude and lawless people — warden raids apart — were generous, 
and even noble, in their warlike character. With them it was not " vse 
victis !" but when the fray was over, so ended animosity. " English- 
men on the one party, and Scotchmen on the other party," says old 
Froissart, " are good men of war, for when they meet there is a hard 



136 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

fight without sparing." " Victory decided — such as be taken," quoth 
the old knight, " shall be ransomed ere they go out of the field ; so that 
shortly each of them is so content with the other, that at their departing 
courteously, they will say, ' God thank you !' but in fighting one with 
another, there is no play nor sparing. 

The union of the crowns, as we have mentioned, virtually destroyed 
the systematic moss-trooping ; but half a century elapsed, before these 
wild people would accommodate themselves to the industrious habits and 
pursuits of those around them. They still clung to the savage amuse- 
ments which recalled scenes of violence now suppressed. Cockfighting 
and football were favourite amusements ; and drinking to excess, and 
riot arid brawling, were charges the Borderer would not deny. Foot- 
ball, like Irish hurling, usually ended in a general row ; and what com- 
menced in good humour, too often terminated in maimed limbs and frac- 
tured heads. Poaching was carried on to an immense extent, and a 
spirit of gambling was inveterate. It was not unfrequent when harvest- 
ing the crops, for farmers to stop upon the highway, with their laden 
carts, and decide by a game at cards which farmyard should possess 
the double load, and the loser would assist in stacking the corn he had 
lost! 

Such, and little more than half a century since, was the state of the 
borders. What is it now ? We will not altogether assert that Tom 
Moore's beauty, with her wand and ring, would travel through the dales, 
night and day, without eliciting border gallantry. But we will say, 
that whether in the pastoral hills of Cheviot or Lammermuir, or on the 
classic banks of Tweed, " by day or night, or any light," the traveller 
may pass safely ; and over the whole district which " law-contemning" 
prickers rode, none will assail his person or effects. The two meteors 
of the day, Daniel the Liberator and Alderman Gibbs, would here elicit 
no sensation. The patriot would be allowed to traverse the banks of 
Tweed without an ovation, or even the presentation oi a silver-spoon, — 
while none would stop the " great unaccountable," to inquire " how his 
audit stood ;" leaving that mysterious question to heaven and Joe Hume. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Being engaged to visit the brother of a deceased friend resident at 
Bamborough, our drive thither was by the sea-side ; and, as the day 
was particularly fine, the expanse of water the eye commanded was 
both extensive and most interesting. The surface was smooth as a 
mirror, and studded thickly with vessels and fishing boats ; the white 
canvass of the former presenting an agreeable contrast to the barked 
sails of the humbler craft with which they were surrounded. Nearly 
abreast, the dark and shattered rocks which form the dangerous chain 
of islands called " The Fames " rose irregularly above the water, 
giving marked evidence, from their rugged and irregular outline, that 
their origin had been volcanic. In full front, that noble remnant of an- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 137 

tiquity, Bamborough Castle, showed its *' frowning keep " — while, in 
the distance, the castle of Holy Island towered boldly up, and formed 
an interesting feature in the scene.* The abbey of Lindisfarn is not 
distinctly seen, although within gunshot of the castle. To a Romish 
devotee this corner of earth and sea would be considered holy, for Lin- 
disfarn was the bishopric, and Fame the seclusion of Saint Cuthbert — 
one of the most redoubted gentlemen ever canonized ; and indeed, if 
chronicles be true, the honour was properly conferred ; for a gamer 
man never set-to with him poetically called " the morning star," but 
better known in the vernacular, as the devil. 

Never had an honest Christian such tremendous trials as poor 
Cuthbert, The devil and he never could pull together for an hour ; 
and Old Nick, whenever he could, never hesitated to take a dirty ad- 
vantage. At three years old the children would not play with the 
juvenile saint, as, even at that early age, they discovered that " he 
was both a presbyter and a bishop." When grown up, an angel de- 
sired him to proceed to Melrose direct, and book himself for the next 
vacancy. Well, the devil waylaid him — a set-to ensued — and after a 
fair stand-up fight and no favour, Satan had the worst of it. Still, " the 
gentleman in black " seemed inveterate against the persecuted saint, 
and one blessed Sunday, to spoil the effect of his best sermon, the devil 
' set fire to a cottage, broke the thread of his discourse, and scattered 
the congregation. With a spoonful of holy water, however, Cuthbert 
made all right again, extinguished the flames in double quick, and the 
audience returned after this false alarm, as people come back to a the- 
atre, to enjoy with increased gusto the remainder of the entertainment. 

When a church dignitary called Eata, was promoted from Melrose 
to Lindisfarn, Cuthbert accompanied him as second in command ; and, 
as prior, by all accounts, he kept the monks in excellent order. Cuth- 
bert, however, soon succeeded his insubordinate Prelate, at Holy Island ; 
for Eata, for a breach of discipline, was tried, by order of the Arch- 
bishop of Cantei'bury, before a sort of spiritual court martial assembled 
on the banks of the Aln. This troublesome churchman was sent to 
Hexham — and Cuthbert promoted to Lindisfarn, vice Eata, deposed for 
contumacy. 

In this lonely isle Cuthbert continued twelve years, celebrated as 
an itinerant preacher, and the most determined woman-hater in the 
calendar. He would not permit one of the fair sex to enter his church, 
but built a chapel at the extreme point of the island for themselves. 
Indeed, a more ungallant gentleman never wore a mitre ; for even a 
distant view of a petticoat put him in a fury. Cuthbert would not ob- 
ject to a fat beeve, or a well-fed wedder ; but he would not stand a 

* The castle on Holy Island was a dependency on the fortress of Berwick, and un- 
til 1819, retained its artillery and a small garrison. Its site is inaccessible, except by 
a zigzag path cut along the southern face of the rock, and well defended by a flanking 
fire. Its offensive strength is a seven-gun battery, looking seaward, the rest of the 
email extent of the cone of the rock being taken up with a barrack for the men, and 
a house for the commanding officer. Before the introduction of siege artillery, this 
little fortress was, from its position, almost beyond insult ; the rock it stands on was 
not to be escaladed, and its works were too much elevated to fear aggression from the 
cltunsy engines then in use. 



538 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

milch-cow on any account. Nothing could be simpler than the reason 
for which he repudiated animals generally considered inoffensive, — 
" Where there is a cow," said the saint of Lindisfam, " there must be 
a woman ; and where there is a woman, there must be mischief." At 
last, weary of the comforts of his "proud abbaye," he determined to 
emigrate to the rocky island which was the scene of Grace Darling's 
exploits ; and which, although the largest of the Fams, had no fresh 
water, and was known to have been especially selected by his Satanic 
Majesty as his marine residence. Cuthbert persevered, and there, with 
one short interval, he resided until his death ; when, in a stone coffin, 
given him by some holy personage, and a sheet presented him by the 
Abbess of Tynemouth, he commenced a post-mortem course of naviga- 
tion, which had not been previously attempted by any mariner upon 
record. 

Cuthbert abominated the fair sex, and the devil. His antipathy to 
" the gentleman in black " was natural enough ; for Clootie, like our 
modern Paul Pry, made it a point to "drop in" at -the most affecting 
passages in the saint's sermons — but for his heretical opinions touching 
milch-cows, and lovely woman, no apology can be pleaded. This draw- 
back in Cuthbert's character apart, as saints went, he was an obliging 
body on the whole. 

Reginald, who lived towards the end of the 12th century, tells the 
tale of a man who, having been imprisoned by King Malcolm in Ber- 
wick Castle, and loaded with fetters of intolerable weight, implored the 
succour of St. Cuthbert. The saint came to his aid, conducted him out 
of his dungeon, — led him across the Tweed with all his irons hanging 
about him, and brought him in safety to the church at Norham, where 
his fetters were seen for many years afterwards suspended from one of 
the beams as a votive offering. 

Well, that was backing a friend in trouble, and no mistake. He 
was also what, in theatrical parlance, is called " a useful man ;" for, 
even after his beatitude, he would come down from heaven to recover a 
lost key. 

" A boy named Haldene," quoth the old chronicler, " attended the 
school, which was kept in Norham church (a custom very common, 
says Reginald). This boy having neglected his books, and dreading the 
punishment of his idleness, threw the key of the church into the Tweed 
(in Thenodam) at a place called Padduel (kodie Pedwel). The ser- 
vices of the church would have been interrupted, relates the historian, 
had not St. Cuthbert appeared to the priest, and told him to go to the 
fishermen at Pedwel. The priest went, and saw that they had just 
caught a salmon, in whose throat the key was found. The key was 
thenceforth held in great veneration, and kissed devoutly by the people."* 

In sight of " the saint's domain," it would be heresy not to visit 
his favourite abode ; and, D.V., I'll be off to the Farn islands to-morrow 
morning. 

The southern view of Bamborough Castle is particularly fine, and 

* Reginald does not mention whether the saint split upon the delinquent. But if he 
did, as birch is plenty in the neighbourhood, we would not have been in Master Hal- 
dene's trousers for a trifle. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. I39 

gives an admirable picture of the external appearance of a feudal 
castle. The immense square keep* domineers over the whole of the 
other defences, and displays its dark battlements over the towers and 
connecting curtains which formed the enceinte of a place, whose extent 
may be fancied from the fact, that the area they encircled amounted to 
eight acres. 

The military history of this ancient fortress would form a fine study 
for the reflective, while the order of its architecture is a sad puzzle to 
an antiquary. Like the travellers who could not agree in the colour of 
the chameleon, half-a-dozen learned Thebans, including Grose and 
Wallis, are at issue touching its origin. One swears that it is true 
Saxon, another has it Roman, while a third ascribes it to the Normans. 
Whether any portion of the original fortress is standing or not, there 
certainly was on this rock a place of arms in complete repair when the 
first William landed. Every thing considered, Wallis appears to be 
the most correct in his conclusions ; and from natural strength and 
littoral advantages, Bamborough was, I am inclined to think, one of the 
casiella fortified by Agricola, in his third British campaign. 

As long back as 642, this castle was a place of consequence and 
strength, as it held out against Penda, King of Mercia, successfully. 
Failing in carrying Bamborough by assault, the Saxon monarch at- 
tempted to burn out the garrison, and, for that purpose, raised against 

* " The keep is a lofty square structure, of that kind of architecture which prevailed 
from the Conquest till about the time of Henry the Second. The stones with which it 
is built are remarkably small, and were taken from a quarry at North Sunderland, 
three miles distant. From their smallness it has been conjectured they were brought 
hither on the backs of men or horses. The walls to the front are eleven feet thick, but 
the other three sides are only nine. The origiftal roof was placed no higher than the 
top of the second story. The reason for the side walls being carried so much higher 
than the roof, might be for the sake of defence, or to command a more extensive look- 
out, both towards the sea and land. The tower was, however, afterwards covered at 
the top. Here were no chimneys ; the only fire-place in it was a grate in the middle 
of a large room, supposed to have been the guard-room, where some stones in the 
middle of the floor are burned red. This floor was all of stone, supported by arches. 
This room had a window in it, near the top, three feet square, intended to let out the 
smoke. All the other rooms were lighted by slits or clinks in the walls, six inches 
broad. The outworks are built of a very different stone from that of the keep, being 
a coarse freestone of an inferior quality, ill calculated to sustain the injuries of the 
weather, taken from the rock itself In all the principal rooms in the outworks there 
are chimneys, particularly in the kitchen, which measures forty feet by thirty feet, 
where there are three very large ones, and four windows ; over each window is a stone 
funnel, like a chimney, open at the top, intended, as it is supposed, to carry off" the 
steam. In a narrow passage, near the top of the keep, was found upwards of fifty iron 
heads of arrows, rusted together in a mass ; the longest of them about seven and a half 
inches. In December, 1770, in sinking the floor of the cellar, the draw-well was acci- 
dentally found ; its depth is 145 feet, cut through the solid rock, of which seventy-five 
feet is of hard whinstone. In the summer of the year 1773, in throwing over the 
bank a prodigious quantity of sand, the remains of the chapel were discovered, in 
length 100 feet ; the chancel, which is now quite cleared, is thirty-six feet long, and 
twenty feet broad ; the east end, according to the Saxon fashion, semicircular. The 
altar, which has been likewise found, did not stand close to the east end, but in the 
centre of the semicircle, with a walk about it three feet broad, left for the priest to 
carry the host in procession. The font, richly carved, is also remaining, and is now 
preserved amongst the curiosities in the keep." — View of Northumberland, by Mac- 
kenzie. 



140 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

the walls enormous piles of wood. But Penda little dreamed that he 
had not only strong defences, but the prayers of the church to contend 
against. The bishop of Lindisfarn was on one of the Fam Islands 
watching the progress of the seige, and wide awake to all that was 
passing. When Penda set fire to his wood-heaps, Bishop Aidan sup- 
plicated Heaven for a shift of wind. It chopped round instantly — blew 
a whole gale — carried the burning faggots among the besiegers' tents — 
and instead of obtaining possession of Bamborough, Penda was regularly 
" burned out," and obliged to raise the siege. 

In 1332, Bamborough was honoured by a royal visit — for M^hen 
Edward sat down before Berwick, he left his queen for safety in this 
castle. 

During the expiring struggle between the houses of York and Lan- 
caster, before the defeat at Hexham Levels gave a crushing blow to the 
hopes of the latter, Bamborough sustained its last siege. It held out 
obstinately, and suffered much damage before it surrendered from the 
cannon of the enemy. Neither the seventh or eighth Henry repaired it 
afterwards — it passed into the possession of Sir John Foster — and in 
1715 was forfeited by his grandson, the member for Northumberland, 
who had taken arms for the old Pretender. On his attainder, the 
estates and castle were purchased by his brother-in-law, Lord Crewe. 

The bishop, who appears to have been but an indifferent statesman, 
for while attached warmly to the Stuarts, he paid servile homage to the 
house of Hanover, was in private life a most amiable man ; and, in- 
deed, in every Christian quality might be held up as a model for the 
bench ; but alas ! his was an example not very likely to be followed by 
the shovel-hatted gentry of the present day. On his death, he be- 
queathed these fine estates, with ample authority to certain trustees, to 
be applied in charitable and useful purposes ! In the choice he made, he 
was eminently successful — and in that philanthropic plan which Lord 
Crewe had nobly originated, the venerated Dr. Sharp had an ample 
field opened to exercise his own benevolence. For a period of forty-two 
years he (Dr. Sharp) expended large sums annually from his private 
purse on the repairs and reconstruction of the castle,* and appropriated 
its revenues to the foundation of excellent schools, a valuable infirmary, 
shops where the poor are supplied with provisions at reduced rates, and 
a temporary asylum for shipwrecked seamen. 

Before the Farn islands were lighted as they are now, and when 
navigation was but imperfect, these dangerous rocks were prolific in 
loss of life and property, and held, in maritime estimation, to be almost 
as perilous to seamen as the Goodwin Sands. To avert misfortune is 
the first care of the trustees — to relieve it the second. For the latter 
purpose, apartments are fitted up for shipwrecked sailors ; and bedding 
is provided for thirty, should such a number happen to be cast on shore 
at the same time. " A constant patrol is kept every stormy night along 

* When the doctor commenced the work of restoration, this splendid relic of former 
days was rapidly declining into a mere ruin, and it was already half sanded-up. Its 
state may be estimated from the fact, that a fox unkennejled in one of the towers, 
made a circuit back, and was run into and killed in the present drawing-room of the 
keep. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 141 

this tempestuous coast for above eight miles, the length of the manor ; 
and whoever brings the first notice of any vessel being in distress, re- 
ceives a premium proportioned to the distance from the castle and the 
darkness of the night. A person attends at daybreak during winter at 
the observatory on the east turret of the castle, to look out if any vessel 
be in distress. If it happens that ships strike in such a manner on the 
rocks as to be capable of relief, in case a number of people could be 
suddenly assembled, a gun is discharged to alarm the neighbourhood ; 
it is fired once if the accident happens in such a quarter, twice if in an- 
other, and thrice if in another direction. Machines of different kinds are 
always in readiness to heave ships out of a perilous situation. A bell is 
placed on the top of the tower, and rung as a warning to fishing-boats in 
foggy weather ; and a large swivel, fixed on the east turret, is fired 
every fifteen minutes as a signal to ships without the islands. Amongst 
other apparatus for assisting distressed vessels, the trustees have Cap- 
tain Manby's. A life-boat also lies at Holy Island, where it can be 
readily manned with experienced hands, and where they have not at the 
commencement to contend with the breakers near the main land. Pre- 
miums are always given to the first boats that put off" from the island 
upon a signal being made from the castle. Storehouses and cellars are 
always kept in readiness for the reception of wrecked goods, rigging, 
&;c. ; and whenever any dead bodies are cast ashore, cofl^ins, &c. are 
provided gratis, and also the funeral expenses are paid.* 

In no public institutions do abuses more abundantly prevail than in 
charitable ones — but those of Bamborough are an admirable exception. 
The trustees have invariably been upright and zealous men ; none of 
your accursed theorists, but persons who have directed their undivided 
attention to the best practical uses to which the estates confided to their 
management could be turned ; and while the sick, the needy, the young, 
and the unfortunate, were benevolently considered, to others, and of a 
different class, encouragement was liberally extended. The trustees 
are declared by their tenantry to be excellent landlords, men who, 
while anxious to increase the rental of the estates, that their usefulness 
might be made the more extensive, are solicitous at the same time, that 
those living under them should have a proper remuneration for their 
industrious exertions. 

Tlie time has gone by when the crosier was occasionally exchanged 
for the sword, and a division of an army in the field, or the command 
of a garrisoned place of arms, intrusted to some right reverend father 
in God.f Bamborough is, however, under as absolute spiritual control 
at present, as it was in the times of the first Richard ; only that instead 
of the commandant being the bishop, he is (I believe) the archdeacon 
of the diocese. I have every reason to know that all things fiscal and 
charitable connected with the castle and its trusts, are in excellent con- 
dition ; but I trust I may not be considered irreverent, in directing the 

* Mackenzie. 

t In the time of Richard I. Hugh, bishop of Durham, held this castle, but his power 
was of short date ; for the king being offended at his insolence, disseized him of the 
fortress, together with the county of Northumberland, and imposed on him a fine of 
2,000 marks. 



142 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

attention of the holy castellan to the state oi his sea battery, as well as 
the dangerous propinquity of the windmill to his outworks. As a mar- 
ried churchman, and one who, I entertain no doubt, would devote him- 
self, were it necessary, like another Curtis, " pro aris et fbcis," I implore 
him to scale his guns and renew their platforms. As to the windmill, 
in an artist's eye it is an abomination, and in a military one still more 
offensive- It looks directly on the northern face of the keep, and were 
it occupied by an investing enemy, is there a fat prebendary dare shave 
himself at the window, or, for the stomach's sake, take a mouthful of 
air before dinner on the rampart, without the risk of being placed hors 
de combat with a lining of lead in "his weam," instead of "good 
capon." 

Think me not, reverend sir, an alarmist. One of the greatest com- 
manders, from the days of 

" Captain Noah down to Captain Cook," 

has a hostile eye on England — and what were either of these naviga- 
tors to Prince de Joinville ? Noah left no sailing instructions behind 
him ; Cook only kept professional journals, and wrote a paper or two 
for the Royal Society ; but de Joinville has actually produced a pam- 
phlet, invasion breathing in every page, and you could not pick out a 
paragraph that did not smell of saltpetre — " Absit," not the omen, but 
the event. How would you feel some blessed morning, at finding the 
rear-admiral with a spring upon his cable, and the Jemappe, with her 
broadside on under your dressing-room window ? Why, you would, as 
the old ballad goes, be " tattered and torn," before one of your old 
rickety guns could be gotten into working order. 

Still, good springs occasionally from evil, and even that fearful visi- 
tation might be advantageous in the end. The prince is a spirited 
young gentleman, and an able sailor — but to judge by his practice at 
Morocco, about as bad an artillerist as ever laid a gun. Now, if his 
erratic fire Avould only miss the keep — for the demolition of one stone 
of that noble and well-preserved tower would grieve me to the heart — 
and hit the windmill, upon my soul ! the sooner his visit were paid the 
better. 

A worthy comrade, long since gathered to his fathers, was sorely 
distressed to find the hill of Drumsnab unprovided with " a sconce," 
and still more, at his unavailing efforts to impress the necessity of erect- 
ing one upon the captain of the place ; but what would Major Dalgetty 
say to your windmill ? a building, at short range, "overcrowing," as 
he would term it, the weakest face of your castle ! Often and earn- 
estly Dalgetty entreated Sir Archibald Campbell to erect an outwork ; 
and as ardently do I implore you to pull down your windmill. Keep 
rear-admiral Prince de Joinville in constant remembrance, and recollect 
you do not live in the days of Penda, king of Mercia, when a bishop 
could raise a gale of wind, merely for the trouble of asking for it. I 
know you are orthodox to the backbone, eschew pope, popery, and Pu- 
seyism ; and that you would scorn to look to a miraculous deliverance, 
after the manner in which poor Penda was burned out. Indeed, I do 
not think that that support could be relied upon ; and I suspect you 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 143 

might land upon the Farn islands frequently, without finding a strag- 
gling bishop praying among the rocks ; and, for my part, I would 
rather expect to find one at Cheltenham or Harrowgate. N'importe — 
<iown with the mill — reform your battery altogether — and a fig for de 
Joinville! ***** 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



I TAKE a melancholy pleasure in examining a country church-yard, 
and inspecting the simple memorials of those who have been. There 
are few rustic cemeteries which do not present some object to interest 
one ; and having procured the keys of that of Bamborough, while my 
friend was occupied with some business, I repaired alone to the church- 
yard. The tombstones generally announce that those beneath them 
were of the " turba sine nomine;" men, whose quiet tenors were undis-. 
turbed by any save the humblest incidents of life. One of the oldest head- 
stones, whose inscription time has entirely obliterated, by a hieroglyphic 
on its reverse face, announces the calling, although the name of the 
deceased has passed away. It is a crossed mattock and pickaxe — and 
he who had dug the graves of many, in turn required that last service 
for himself. I should say, that, apart from statistical returns which 
confirm it, the gravestones on the borders attest the great longevity of 
their inhabitants. One my eye glanced upon in passing through 
Wooler church-yard, states that the grandfather died at eighty-nine, 
and the father at ninety years and six months ; an extended span of 
existence seldom reached by two generations in succession. 

At the western extremity of the Bamborough burial-ground, two- 
and-twenty of the unfortunate passengers who perished in the Forfar- 
shire and Pegasus are reposing. A few paces in the front, Grace Dar- 
ling's humble grave is seen ; and close to the wall behind the long line 
of sufferers, a plain tombstone, and a chaste and handsome monument, 
record the deaths of Messieurs Robb and Mackenzie, two Scottish cler- 
gymen, who were lost in these ill-fated, or more correctly speaking, ill- 
managed steamers. 

With respect to the misfortune which occurred to the Forfarshire, 
different causes have been assigned ; and to bad management and 
defective machinery her loss has been generally attributed. The gale 
was heavy — the sea ran high — and the probable failure of her boilers, 
at the moment when the working of her engines at their greatest power, 
could only have enabled her to weather the storm, was a calamity 
which might have set the ablest seamanship at defiance. But what 
excuse can be offered for the destruction of human life on board the 
Pegasus? The night was bright — the winds were sleeping — the vessel 
sped merrily along — 

On the smooth surface of a summer sea — 
her machinery was perfect ; the captain and his crew were intimately 
acquainted with a course which every week was sailed. In the most 



144 HILL^-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

timid bosom not a fear was lurking ; and, with a few exceptions, all 
had retired to rest. Sunk in repose, the husband fancied himself locked 
in a wife's embrace ; the child's rosy lips were pressed to an expecting 
mother's ; the returning seaman in his dreams was hailed with a smil- 
ing welcome by the kindred he had been separated from, and the girl 
he had loved so long ; and never did a company seek " nature's sweet 
restorer," with brighter anticipations that the morrow's sun would usher 
in health and happiness. Alas ! the decree had gone forth ; no sun 
should rise for them ! 

The fatal 19th of July, 1843, to many will be a sad anniversary'. 
The Pegasus sailed from Leith at half-past five, A. M., and passed the 
mouth of Berwick bay at dusk. On that fatal evening. Van Amburgh 
exhibited his menagerie ; and after the entertainment had concluded, 
many of those who had been present repaired to walk upon the pier 
and ramparts of the town — tempted, even at that late hour, by the calm 
loveliness of sea and sky. Little did they suppose that sixty fellow 
beings were hurrying to destruction. 

The safe and proper course is between the Plough Seal and the 
Goldstone, but there is plenty of water inside the rock, and that course, 
though less safe, is frequently taken, to avoid some of the strong and 
numerous currents which run in various directions among the Farn 
islands. Whether the wretched man who had charge of the most pre- 
cious cargo a ship is freighted with — human life — intended to run inside 
the Goldstone, or fancied that he had given it, in nautical parlance, a 
sufficiently " wide berth," can only be conjectured ; although it is most 
probable, that the inner channel was that which he had determined to 
take ; and one which, from the lightness of the night, and the smooth- 
ness of the water, he was perfectly justified in selecting. The steamer 
was running at full speed, and making eight knots an hour ; the bell 
was struck at twelve, the watch changed, the captain on the paddle- 
box ; Emanuel Head had been passed, and the lights upon the Farn 
distinctly seen. The engineer — who was one of the half dozen saved 
— at that moment came up the hatch of the engine-room, and remarked 
that, " the lights were in one " [line], instead of being open the breadth 
of a handspike, as they should have been ; but, before he had time 
to think or speak, the vessel struck the Goldstone with tremendous 
violence. 

The shock gave terrible intimation to all below of the sad and un- 
expected calamity which had occurred ; and all, male and female, some 
dressed, and some but partially, hurried upon deck. The forecastle 
was already filling fast with water ; and while, without order or de- 
sign, the vessel was backed at one moment, and turned ahead the next, 
the boats were lowered on the larboard and starboard sides, crowded 
with passengers and sailors, but in so unseamanlike a manner, that the 
engine was set on before the stern-falls could be unhooked. In conse- 
quence, both boats swamped with the back-water from the paddle-wheels 
— and of thirty souls on board, but three recovered the deck of the 
sinking vessel. 

" Great God protect us !" exclaimed a passenger ; " the boats are 
swamped — what shall we do V 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 145 

" The best you can," returned the brutal and besotted captain, 
mounting the bridge across the paddle-boxes with apparent indifference. 

Of courage there are marked and varied qualities ; the impulsive 
feeling which prompts the soldier to mount " the imminent deadly 
breach ;" and that calm and holy self-possession, with which the Chris- 
tian looks, all unmoved, death fully in the face ; and shows, that if his 
rock-founded faith has taught him to live, it also can 

" Teach him to die." 

The conclusion of this tragic occurrence was painfully affecting. 
When hope was over, the vessel settling rapidly in a treacherous sea, 
whose surface was still unrippled, and the certainty was known that, 
ere another qilarter of an hour had passed, the ill-starred wretches 
who, in health and youth and strength, now crowded the deck of the 
doomed vessel, would then be in eternity, Mackenzie,* true to his voca- 
tion, collected those about to die around him, and as they knelt, obe- 
dient to his wishes, poured forth a parting prayer in words of such 
fervid eloquence,'that the few survivors declared that his supplication 
for mercy to the throne of grace seemed rather the language of inspira- 
tion, than that which is breathed from mortal lips. His fervid prayer 
and exhortation to bow humbly to the Almighty's will being concluded, 
he extended his upraised arms above the kneeling group, pronounced 
his benediction — another minute — Oh ! it is painful, — and we must 
omit the closing scene. 

All accounts agree in describing the conduct of the unfortunate 
passengers under these desperate circumstances as being wonderfully 
firm and resigned ; and, confirmed by the example of the admirable 
man who pointed out to them a glorious hereafter, they met their fate 
with decency and fortitude. One affecting incident formed a fearful 
contrast to the distressing picture which the deck of the sinking vessel 
generally presented. All were grouped around Mackenzie, — to that 
good man's entreaty that those about to enter the presence of the 
Omnipotent might be mercifully received, a deep Amen was piously re- 
turned" — while woman's softer nature yielded, and smothered sobs 
attested the truth of Shakspere's beautiful remark, "how hard it is to 
die." At that moment, two sweet children, who had been placed under 
the captain's care, unconscious altogether of impending danger, were 
playing merrily about the deck, and when the vessel suddenly went 
down, the joyous laugh of innocence changed to the gurgling noise of 
suffocation, and ere the smile faded from their lips, crimeless and pure, 
these sweet "field flowers" went to their account, and mortal misery 
was exchanged for an early communion with " their Father and their 
God."t 

To describe the final scene, which closed the history of sixty per- 

* A sailor, called Bailey, who was saved, says, — " At that period, near to the cabin 
sky-light, I saw the Rev. J. M. Mackenzie, with his head raised towards heaven, his 
arm uplifted, and a closed book in his hand, surrounded by a number of passengers on 
their knees. Although all were engaged in prayer, I distinctly heard Mr. Mackenzie's 
voice above the rest. I was struck with his cool and collected manner." 

t They were a boy and a girl, the children of an English clergyman, the Rev. Field 
Flowers, of Tealby Grove, Lincolnshire. 

in 



146 HILL-SIDE AND. BORDER SKETCHES. 

sons, when the " Pegasus" went down, and all, from the cradle to the 
crutch, were entombed together in ocean, would be a harrowing detail ; 
and, in the poet's words, we may say when the vessel sank, 

" Sorrow it were, and shame, to tell 
The fearful work that there befell." 

But the last look in life taken by the rescued mariner at him who 
caused, and those whom his terrible misconduct had robbed of an exist- 
ence so endeared to many a living relative, whose tenderest affections 
a drunken beast had withered, and for ever, is truly interesting, and we 
shall give it in Bailey's words : — 

I saw the captain and mate together on the larboard paddle-box ; 
the captain having both his hands in his pockets, neither attempting to 
save himself, nor any one else. The water had now reached the 
quarter-deck, I got on the starboard gangway rail, which is the right 
side of the vessel, and was the one nearest to the shore ; the paddle- 
boxes were just disappearing with the captain and mate on. 

" Before leaping into the sea, I gave a last farewell look, and per- 
ceived up the rigging of the main-mast a female and the engineer ; 
then on the Rev. J. M. Mackenzie, and those about him ; I saw the 
water just about touching them, but they all remained fixed to the spot, 
as if too deeply engaged with God to be disturbed by that element, 
which was to bring them nearer to their heavenly Father." 

Probably about the half of the unfortunate sufferers found a grave 
in "ocean caves," or were carried by the under currents out to sea, 
and the remainder came to land, chiefly at Bamborough and Holy 
Island, while a few were taken up dispersedly by the fishing-boats. 
Nothing could be more distressing than the researches of their relatives, 
which for months continued with pious perseverance. It seemed a 
melancholy satisfaction to the survivors to place the mutilated remains 
of those who perished in consecrated earth. And yet, God knows, even 
when successful, the recovery of a body, whose head and hands were 
denuded of flesh even to the bones, must have presented a ghastly and 
disgusting sight ; for, after a few days, the eels and crabs had made 
such fearful ravages, that, excepting by clothes or private marks, iden- 
tity was rendered impossible. 

****** 

The interior of the church of Bamborough is prettily and com- 
fortably fitted up ; and there are some curious relics in the chancel : 
one is the figure of a knight recumbent, cut in red granite, and ex- 
tended on the floor immediately before the altar rails. An ancient 
headpiece and iron corslet, with splint-gloves and a sword, are sus- 
pended over the side of the communion table. The rudeness of their 
workmanship, and the absence of any ornament or device, would infer 
that they were worn by some inferior soldier ; and one wonders that, in 
the hope of averting danger, men should render themselves so perfectly 
unserviceable as any person must be when encased in this ill-shaped 
mass of useless iron. Although the defensive armour used in the 
present day by the heavy cavalry is judiciously constructed, and as 
different from the ancient shirt of mail, as the percussion musket from 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. ' ^47 

the match-lock, I feel convinced that the dragoon would be more formi- 
dable in the charge, or the vieUe, without the cuirass, than with it. The 
helmet of proof is necessary ; but I think that, in loading the horseman 
with defensive armour to protect his person, the incumbrance exceeds 
the advantages obtained. 

I descended to a very curious crypt, which only a few years ago 
was opened and cleaned out. It was evidently in papal times used for 
a confessional, as the iron staple from which to suspend the lamp, and 
the niche in the wall for the font which held the holy water, prove that 
it was not originally designed for a burial vault. It was, however, 
subsequently used for that purpose ; for, when opened, the bodies of 
five of the Forsters — a Northumbrian family, which a mural monument 
in the church above announces to be extinct — were found laid in coffins, 
side by side, on a sort of rude bench of earth and stones. The coffins 
were placed in parallel graves beneath the flagging, precisely in the order 
they were found. The earth they had rested on was removed, and a 
brief notice, chiselled on the stones which covered them, merely detail- 
ing the name and age of him who reposed beneath. 

Of these relics of a once proud and influential border family, four 
are unknown to fame, and the fifth's was but a melancholy history. 
This latter gentleman was member of parliament for Northumberland — 
and, although a Protestant, a strenuous adherent of the house of Stuart. 
When the old Pretender raised the insurrection in " the fifteen," the 
Earl of Derwentwater and Mr. Forster, both of whom were suspected of 
disaffection to the reigning government, excited the suspicions of the 
authorities, and orders were issued for their arrest. 

While the Elector of Hanover succeeded to the crown, by hereditary 
right and parliamentary settlement, the Earl of Mar, as lieutenant- 
general, had proclaimed the old Pretender at Kirk Michael, and, being 
joined by many persons of family and influence, he advanced to Perth, 
at the head of ten thousand men. Almost simultaneously, a rising 
took place in the north of England — but it was a hurried outbreak, 
and plans not matured, as might have been expected, proved abortive. 

Lord Derwentwater and Mr. Forster, having narrowly escaped 
arrest, took the desperate resolution of declaring openly against the 
house of Hanover ; and, with sixty horse, took possession of the town of 
Wark worth. Here they were joined by Lord Widdrington with thirty 
men ; and Forster assumed the title — so pompously placed on his hum- 
ble flag-stone in the crypt of Bamborough — lieutenant-general : his 
army consisting of nmeiy men ! In disguise, he proclaimed James III. ; 
and marching by Alnwick he was slightly reinforced, and entered 
Morpeth at the head of three hundred men. An abortive attempt was 
made on Newcastle by the insurgents ; and, in expectation of support 
from Cheshire and Lancashire, Forster, after that failure, moved to 
Hexham. On the 22d October, at Kelso, a union of a Scottish corps 
with the English malcontents raised their number to nearly two thou- 
sand ; but in their counsels there was no wisdom ; and while they wasted 
time in the Cheviots, General Carpenter's horsemen got close upon their 
rear. An invasion of Lancashire was at last resolved upon ; when 
five hundred Highlanders refused to cross the border, and left the field. 



148 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

On the 2nd November, the posse commitatus were drawn out lo oppose 
them ; but this rustic body ran bodily away. The rebel march to Lan- 
caster was unopposed ; they proclaimed the Pretender, and laid hold of 
the public money when they could discover it. They reached Preston, 
a town exclusively Jacobite ; and there were joined by the Roman 
Catholic gentry and their tenants. Here " Forster began to assume 
the airs of a conqueror, in spite of the misgivings of the veteran Mac- 
intosh, who knew the value of such an undisciplined rabble." 

In the mean time, Carpenter had united with General Wills by 
forced marches, at Durham ; and an immediate and combined attack 
upon the rebels was decided on : Wills, by a direct march on Preston ; 
Carpenter, by a flank movement. As the royalists approached, Mr., 
or General Forster, as he called himself, gave very satisfactory proof 
that he was but a sorry soldier : " He fell into a fright and confusion, 
and betook himself to bed." But Lord Kenmure roused him ; and in 
a hurried council, where all the gentlemen had a voice, and " those 
spoke loudest who knew least of war," a plan of defending Preston 
was adopted. It was a miserable and mistaken attempt ; for the 
bridge and passage of the Ribble, which a dozen men might have held 
against hundreds, were left undefended by a single musket. A simul- 
taneous attack, by dismounted dragoons, was made upon the barriers ; 
it was stoutly repulsed ; and General Wills was obliged to retire the 
assailing parties, and wait until Carpenter should join him next morn- 
ing. Forster, on learning that the expected junction had been efiected, 
although he had scarcely lost a man, and with force which doubled 
that of the regular troops, " lost heart altogether, and, without consult- 
ing his friends, sent Colonel Oxburgh to propose a capitulation." All 
the terms the royalist generals would concede, was a promise that, on 
an immediate and unconditional surrender, the garrison should not be 
put to the sword, and that they should be protected until the further 
pleasure of the government was known. When the object of Oxburgh's 
mission transpired, the braver portion of the insurgents expressed their 
contempt and indignation at the conduct of their craven general — and 
the highlanders would have torn Forster piecemeal, had he ventured 
to expose himself to their fury. But the die was cast ; the Lancashire 
boors slipped out of the town by hundreds ; while the highland chiefs 
with difficulty dissuaded their clansmen from sallying sword in hand, 
and cutting their way through the enemy. The whole scene ended in 
a surrender at discretion ^ and, through the cowardice of a wretched 
poltroon, fourteen hundred men, in a town capable of defence, laid 
down their arms to a smaller number of cavalry. 

It is only necessary to connect this hurried narrative, by observing 
that Mar was about as good a general as Forster ; and, after a misera- 
ble campaign, he and his royal master slipped privately from the army 
at Dundee ; got unobserved on board a ship ; escaped to France ; and 
left their enthusiastic and too faithful adherents to abide the vengeance 
which an alarmed government would be certain to exact. 

In Scotland, the penalty incurred by treason, was rather levied by 
wasting property than taking life ; but in England the arm of the law 
fell heavily, and Forster's cowardly surrender had left a sufficiency of 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. J49 

victims to glut the ministers of the law even to satiety. Indeed, the 
northern jails seemed types of the cave of Adullam : and strange were 
the varied professions of the prisoners which crowded these prison 
houses. There were high-church divines and non-juring Protestants ; 
priests and Jesuits ; jacobite squires and Irish adventurers ; highland 
chiefs and lowland lairds ; and of the sine nomina iurba, an assemblage 
of men of every country and every calling. On these latter, the first 
fury of the angry executive descended. They were tried by military 
courts-martial, and shot by fifties. The superior order of the insur- 
gents were sent forward to London ; and there heading and hanging 
were unsparingly employed, until the most furious royalists were 
surfeited. 

Two persons raised the standard of the Pretender in the north of 
England, or, probably, the insurgent spirit there might have smoulder, 
ed without an ^meute. I allude to Derwentwater and Mr. Forster. 
The latter was expelled the House of Commons ; tried and convicted 
of high treason ; broke out of jail ; escaped to the continent, and there 
lived in great obscurity. But the young and gallant earl was attaint- 
ed, with the Earl Nithsdale and Lord Kenmure — and all three were 
condemned to death on Tower Hill. 

The romantic escape of the chief of the Maxwells, through the 
heroic conduct of his lady, the night before he was to suffer, is too well 
known to require anything beyond allusion to this noble act of conjugal 
devotion ; but his less fortunate associates underwent the sentence of 
their peers. Both died with manly fortitude ; and both evinced their 
misplaced loyalty to a mean-spirited sensualist, whom they considered 
rightful king, by praying on the scaffold for the Pretender. Derwent- 
water was decollated by a single stroke ; and, as a coffin — through 
some inattention — had not been prepared, the head, after the axe fell, 
was picked up by a servant, and wrapped in a napkin ; the body rolled 
up in a cloak ; and both were carried to the Tower first, and finally, 
secretly conveyed to the north. His friends had some trouble in effect- 
ing it ; but they did succeed, 

" And laid him in his father's grave." 

Such was the untimely fate of James Ratcliffe, third and last earl 
of Derwentwater. Great and incessant exertions had been made in 
vain to save him ; and — even in that day an enormous sum — sixty 
thousand pounds was offered for a pardon. 

Many wonderful and miraculous circumstances were popularly 
believed to have accompanied his death ; and the aurora borealis, 
which appeai'ed remarkably vivid on the night of his execution, is still 
known by the name of "Lord Derwentwater's Lights." When his 
lordship's last request, to be buried with his ancestors at Dilston, was 
refused, either a sham-funeral took place, or the corpse was afterwards 
removed, for it was certainly conveyed secretly from London, and de- 
posited in the family vault. From accident or design the coffin was 
broken open a few years ago, and the body found, after the lapse' of 
near a century, in a high state of preservation. It was easily recog- 
nized by the suture round the neck, and by the regularity of the 



160 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

features and openness of the countenance. The teeth were all perfect; 
but Mr. Surtees, in his history of Durham, says that " several of them 
were drawn by a blacksmith, and sold for half a-crown a piece !" In 
a short time afterwards the vault was closed up. This unfortunate 
nobleman is described to have been rather under the middle size, 
slender, and active, with a fine, comely, and prepossessing aspect. 

The ample estates of the RatclifFe family were declared forfeited ; 
and an act of parliament passed, to transfer the use of them to Green- 
wich Hospital. 

Title and estates have passed away, and the family of Ratcliffe, 
like that of Forster, is extinct. 

In the Cheviots I met a singular memorial of this unfortunate noble- 
man. In the house of a hill-farmer, a brand was shown me with the 
letters J. R. in antiquated characters. It had been found in Bilston 
Hall ; and, probably, what may be the last true relic of a wealthy and 
powerful house at present in existence, is neither "jewel rare," nor 
warrior's weapon, but that humble implement — a sheep-brand ! sic 
transit ! 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Man ordains and Heaven forbids. Bound for the Farn Islands this 
morning — every preparation made — all ready to start — the wind says 
*' no !" and that, too, most emphatically. Summer as it is ; it blows a 
regular north-wester, and so far from giving symptoms of abatement, I 
fancy that " a fresh hand has been put to the bellows," as sailors say, 
for the gale increases. The water between this shore and the Farns 
is literally boiling ; and over those barren rocks the waves are break- 
ing fearfully. Honest Cuthbert ! with your leave, I'll postpone my 
morning call, until you have smoother water about your premises. 
Jack Falstaff very properly remarks, that " he'll be damned for never 
a king's son in Christendom ;" and I'll not be drowned for any saint in 
the calendar. I shall be off to the Cheviots, and will visit the old 
Woman-hater on my return, i. e. wind and weather permitting. I hate 1 
drowning as much as " fat Jack " did — it's an ungentlemanly death, ' 
and " swells a man " — and as I should like to present a respectable 
appearance when lying in state, I'll stick to terra jirma. , 

I am neither a geologist or botanist. With the flowers of the gera- 
nium and potato I am well acquainted ; and also, know a rose from a 
carnation. In geology, I plead equal ignorance; and for a correct 
description of the grand feature of my present ZocaZe, I shall be indebted 
to the historian of Northumberland. 

" Cheviot, from which the whole group of porphyritic hills is named, 
is a huge round-topped mountain, rising 2,642 feet above the level of 
the sea. The higher parts of the Cheviot range are covered with peat- 
moss, and their lower acclivities with alluvial soil, upon porphyry and 
sygenite of various modifications. The summit of Clieviot presents 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. < 151 

large craggy rocks of whinstone and horn-blende. Hornsy Crag, which 
rises above the farm-house near Langley Ford in the valley between 
Hedgehope and Cheviot, is composed of a variety of this rock ; and the 
perpendicular cliffs of Wellhole, on the opposite side of the Cheviot, 
consist also of the same rock." 

Now after this scientific description of the surrounding hills, I shall 
merely remark that I am cantoned very snugly in a shepherd's house 
under Hornsy Crag ; and, as I presume for their past offendings, a party 
of sappers and miners are encamped upon the top of Cheviot. — " Marry, 
good air" — and no fear either of dunsjor morning visitors. 2,642 feet 
of altitude is excellent security against intrusion ; and I question if even 
a Hebrew solicitor would undertake to serve a writ upon the apex of 
this range. The sapeurs must find their climate rather uncommon — 
for a few years since, the little lough upon the summit was so firmly 
iced over at midsummer, that a herdsman walked across it ! 

From Wooler, the entrance into the Cheviots, or I should rather say, 
that portion of the hill-district to which I was bound, is, from the time 
you leave the town, extremely disagreeable ; indeed, almost impracti- 
cable to a horseman. The road — and it runs but a mile or two — is 
bad ; and then sheep-paths succeed it, interspersed with rocks and 
rolling pebbles, which require a very discreet horse, and moreover one 
that is well upon his pins, to traverse safely ; and yet, never was an 
elderly gentleman with an infirm knee, worse mounted than I. My 
chai'ger travels low, so much so as to lead me to suspect that he is an 
Irish importation, and belonging to that peculiar breed, which, ac- 
cording to Hibernian grooms, will kick a shilling from one end of a ten- 
mile stage to the other. He has also, a sore mouth, and when the path 
became doubly dangerous, and I attempted to assist him with a tighter 
rein, he tossed his head towards the sky, as if appealing from man's 
cruelty to heaven. I can't walk, and I am afraid to ride — but the 
guide cheers me by pointing out my destination. We are also on the 
turf-sward now, and if the quadruped indulges in a somerset, we'll 
light upon broom or heather — and that is better than having one's per- 
son roughly deposited upon the hard stones. 

I mentioned that the Lammermuir was celebrated for its honey, 
and the Cheviots are not inferior in reputation. A man in Wooler is a 
bee-fancier, and cultivates these industrious insects with great success. 
Although resident himself in the town, he cantons the bees among the 
mountains — and I passed a pen-fold to-day, a mile distant from the 
nearest shepherds, in which some twenty hives were placed. There is 
no one to look after them but the proprietor, and his visits are very 
irregular. But though exposed in a place, which, within a circuit of 
three miles, can only reckon one farm-house and a shepherd's, the bees 
remain undisturbed, and the honey intact — a most singular proof of the 
honesty of this pastoral and remote neighbourhood. 

Within musquet-shot of my quarters two burns * unite their waters, 

and form a small river. Here and there, are pools you could cover 

with a horse-cloth, connected by shallow streams. To look at it as a 

streamlet, it forms a pretty feature in the moorland ; but the angler 

* The Scotch name for a rivulet. 



152 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

would pass it, as the Jew of old in the picture — I forget the master- 
passed the man who had fallen among thieves. And yet there is not a 
day from March to November, that this scanty brook will not supply 
a dish of trouts. 

The evening is still, there is not a cloud in the sky, the sun is 
shining gloriously, and the water is so pellucid, that every pebble might 
be counted. The streams would not wet your ancle — the pools are 
absolutely crystal. Would it be expected or believed, that under such 
circumstances, I have killed a dish of trouts, and two or three of them 
herring-size ? The fact is, however, so. 

A travelling tinker I overtooK in the muir on my way up this morn- 
ning, for the consideration of a mutchkin of whisky paid upon the spot, 
indoctrinated me in the way to angle here ; and to the reader I shall 
give the same instruction, and "tell him the art, as it was told to me." 

It is simply to fish with a short line, the casting one to be of delicate 
fineness, and one fly is only to be used, the angler keeping himself well 
from the pool, and rather sinking the fly than working it on the surface. 
Every trout I took I saw distinctly in the water ; and it was amusing at 
times, to see two or three following the fly cautiously, until one, of more 
dashing spirit than the others, made a sudden rush, and concluded his 
history. I was better prepared for angling, according to the tinker's 
directions, than any fisherman who tries this water, for I had accident- 
ally half a dozen beautiful horsehairs in my fly-book, each of them as 
long as my arm. These hairs are fifty years old ; they were given to 
me a quarter of a century since, by the late Captain Burton of the 99th, 
and they had been thirty years in his possession at the time. He was 
an eccentric man, uncouth in his manner, and careless in his dress ; but 
under an odd exterior lay a warm heart, and a generous and charitable 
disposition. After his own manner he was hospitable to excess; and to 
crown him with all the cardinal virtues, the best angler, and the most 
singular one 1 ever met with. He never was master of a link of gut in 
his life. He commenced angling with' a single horsetail — and that tail 
was accessory to the death of thousands of trouts in every British water. 

For elegant trout-fishing, no gut on earth is comparable to horse- 
hair — when you can obtain it. I believe that not an artist on the Bor- 
der, with gut, could have competed with my superior tackle this even- 
ing. But you must compare the different materiel to estimate the supe- 
rior delicacy of the hair. I think I have ten dozen midges in my book ' 
— and many a page I turned over before I could find one tied on mate- 
rial fine enough to unite to the horsehair. 

By the way, the best fly-tyers are scandalously careless in selecting 
suitable gut on which to dress their flies; and I have repudiated many 
a midge of beautiful construction, because it was affixed to a substance 
that looked very like a harp-string. 

Last evening the sun set beautifully. Judge, then, my surprise this 
morning, to find myself enveloped in a fog ; and from the cloudless sky 
in which the god of day took his final departure, I arise in impenetrable 
obscurity, and am converted literally into " a son the mist." What can 
be done ? An arrangement of disordered tackle might kill an hour or 
two ; but I cannot distinguish colours, nor ascertain brown from black. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. ^53 

I am, alas ! without a book, but a fly-book of Mr. Cheeks . We'll try 
the house ; surely in the long, dull, winter nights, they must have some- 
tliing printed wherewith to while the hours away. 

If I might form an opinion, by the literary supply brought for my 
edification and amusement, and if the Cheviot libraries contain the same 
materials as the pamphlets I have overlooked, I do not marvel that the 
imaginations of these aborigines are haunted with battle, murder, and 
sudden death ; and that in ghosts, fairies, and hobgoblins they are true 
believers. 

The first of the instructive and entertaining collection I perused, had 
a peculiar interest for me. It is intitulated " The Lambton Worm," 
and shows the danger of angling on a Sunday. Once, and once only, 
I was — and I blush to own it — guilty of killing a couple of grilses pn 
the seventh day, having unhappily acted on the authority of Callum Beg, 
who assured a Mr. Waverly, sixty years ago, that " Sunday never came 
aboon the pass of Ballybrough ;" and I, being far up in the Caithness 
highlands, was utterly beyond Callum's line of sabbatical demarcation. 
I certainly did not offend the feelings of better men — for I was in one 
of the wildest straths of the northern highlands, and my delinquency 
was committed in secret. The gilly had put the second grilse in the 
basket, and a fine, clean, new-run salmon sprang over the water with a 
splash, that in the silence of this solitude was actually startling. I mark- 
ed him for a victim, and my arm was raised to project the favourite fly, 
which twice had proved so irresistible, when I felt the pressure of a 
hand, and turned rapidly. An auld, thin, weather-beaten carl was 
standing at my side, and turning his blue eyes on mine, he thus address- 
ed me : — 

" Hae ye nae dinner at hame the day, that thus ye violate the 
Sabbath ? Come ahint the hillock yander. There's gay-gude broose 
and a sheep's-heed, I ken ; an ye'll be kindly welcome." 

I thanked him ; and rather haughtily replied, that I was angling 
for amusement, and not for support. 

" Aw the worse — aw the worse," returned the old man. " Ye 
admit there was na needcessity, and yet ye break the Sabbath. Was 
na sax days sufficient, laddie, for cleikiij troots and ither beasties, but 
ye man tich upoo the Laird's ?" 

" And may I inquire why you are here ? Have you no place to 
worship in ?" I replied sharply. 

" Yes," said the herdsman ; " there is a kirk but thra mile off, and 
tho' I'm not in body among these that are blessed with gude ministry, 
in spirit I am wi' them. But I ha' five hundred lambs under care — an' 
should I leave them for a minute, they would straggle ten miles back 
across the muirs to where the ewes are. Mine is a wark of needcessity 
— yours altogither contrayry to God's command, and man's decent 
observance. I'll prove it to ye, if you like ;" and raising his right 
hand, which hitherto had hung beneath his sliepherd's plaid, he produced 
a pocket Bible, between the leaves of which his fore-finger was 
inserted. 

" Yes," he said, " the claims of the earthly master war sairly 
against the spiritual, an' that I'll admit ye ; but were I to go where my 



154 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES, 

heart yearns to be, when I cam' back, that flock confided to me would 
be miles awa' — and scarce would a week's work win them back again. 
Weel, as I canna reach the kirk, I mak' yonder broomy knowe my 
temple. I can there read my Bible, and watch the warldly charge 
committed to my care ; ay, and wi' the assurance too, that tho' its 
'gainst the leeteeral words, I can serve twa maisters. Did I neglect 
my duty to my employer, I should be guilty of a gross breach o' trust ; 
and the prayer o' the penitent will reach the seat o' mercy, an' be 
favourably heard aff a gowany bank, ay, an' in my mind, suner 
.sometimes, than many that were uttered between four kirk wa's. 
Dinna be fleeted at an auld man spakin' plainly. You are gangin 
only intil life, an' I'm — in coorse of nature at eighty-twa — aboot to 
slip oot o' it. Like a gude laddie, dinna for a' the fesh that ever 
carried fin or scale, rin counter to the command o' him wha made ye." 

I felt the old man's admonition, and took his hand and thanked him. 
Off" came the casting line, and the gilly was desired to unjoint and tie 
up the rod. At that moment another, and a finer fish, threw himself 
clean three feet over the water ; and, to judge by the pure silver of his 
scaled sides, he was not six hours from the sea. 

" That," said the old shepherd, " is the temptation o' the evil one ;" 
and he pointed his finger at the spot where the salmon had just leaped, 
while the eddies his descent upon the surface caused, still went circling 
over the pool. 

" And do you think, my good friend and counsellor, that his satanic 
majesty is at present impersonated in that salmon ?" 

" Mony is the shape, an' the device, which the prince o' darkness 
taks to lure puir sinners till destruction" — returned the herdsman. 

I remembered that Cuthbert, of pious memory, had been sorely an- 
noyed by the foul fiend taking the semblance of a pretty woman, and 
also, a seat in the church where he (Cuthbert) was abusing him. The 
men were lost in admiration at the beauty, and the women fascinated 
with the bonnet of the stranger. Not an eye was turned to the saint ; 
for all were concentrated on the fair one ; and " who is she ?" went 
whispering round. Cuthbert, who seems to have been always wide 
awake, at once suspected that "the old gentleman" was at the bottom 
of it. When a dairymaid faints on hearing that her sweetheart has list- 
ed, burned feathers is a specific ; when a lady swoons, try eau de Co- 
logne and sal volatile ; but when the devil's in the case, there's nothing 
like holy water — and so thought Cuthbert. Slyly taking a homful from 
the font, the saint approached the last fashionable arrival, who, on her 
part, modestly turned her eyes upon the ground. Regardless of " the 
duck of a bonnet," town-made, that had cost " Clootie " a five-pound 
note, Cuthbert let fly his charge of holy water at the fair incognita. 
The blessed fluid hissed, as it would have hissed on a hot girdle before 
it was beatified ; and to the horror of the former admirers of master Sa- 
tan, up he rose like a rocket, and bounded through the roof. None had 
suspected the actual presence of the arch-enemy ; and, but that it was 
forked upon the tip, the women, as the villain mounted, would have 
staked their reputation, that, from the length of it, the tail was but a tip- 
pet. Well, when I brought this piece of impudence on the part of the 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. ^55 

old scoundrel to memory, I began to be of the same opinion with the 
shepherd ; for if he could transmute himself into a beauty, surely he 
could " transmogrify " himself into a fish ; and when he would venture 
to support his figure at church, with a saint blackguarding him from the 
pulpit, there could be but little doubt that in the semblance of a salmon, 
he would not scruple to assail a sinner like myself. From that day I 
registered a vow in heaven that neither grilse, whitling, or salmon, 
should tempt me to cast a fly upon a Sunday. 

I looked at the next tale in the collection, and therein figure a beau- 
tiful princess, and a wicked stepmother, who is a witch into the bargain. 
Then comes " The Berkshire Lady's Garland," whose simple method 
of obliging a gentleman to declare whether his intentions were honour- 
able, and come to the scratch at once, is worthy of admiration.* A rob- 
ber story is followed by a terrible tale, intitulated " The Bloody Gar- 
dener ;" and then comes " Jemmy and Nancy," f in which a couple of 
lovers are, as Hamlet says, made ghosts of, and the boatswain is very 
properly hanged. A most " Pathetic History," called " The Factor's 
Garland," :}: wound up this strange collection. 

" They had mair o' these pleasant bukes," said the mountain lassie 
who attends me ; " but Tam the miller had pit them in his pocket, to 
ha' a read o't. It wasna abune thra miles to the ford — an' they wad 
sendower for the bukes when the lambs got settled." 

I declined the offer, my present supply is quite sufficient ; for be- 
sides, " A True Relation of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal to Mrs. Bar- 
grave," I have " A Dreadful Explosion in Wallsend Colliery," and 
" The Devil's Lamentation over Gateshead." Why, a man who would 
not be contented with such a collection of light, but instructive litera- 
ture, would complain of short supplies in the Bodleian Library. 

* Part 1. — Showing Cupid's conquest over a lady of five thousand a year. 2. The 
lad}r's letter of challenge to fight him on refiising to wed her in a mask. 3. How they 
meet by appointment in a grove, where she obliged him to fight or wed her. 4. How 
they rode together in her gilded coach to her noble seat, or mansion, &,c. 

+ Part 2. — Showing how beautiful Nancy of Yarmouth fell in love with young 
Jemmy the sailor. 2. How the father conveyed a letter to destroy young Jemmy, his 
daughter's sweetheart. 3. Showing how the ghost of young Jemmy the sailor appear- 
ed to beautiful Nancy of Yarmouth. 4. How the ghost of these two unfortunate lovers 
appeared to the boatswain, and he having his trial, was hanged at the yard-arm. 

t Giving an account of an English factor being in Turkey, who sees the dead body 
of a Christian lying in the streets, and refused burial — causes the body to be interred. 
On going on a little fiirther he finds a beautifiil young woman, held as a slave, about to 
be strangled, he ransoms her, and brings her to England as his housekeeper. The 
young woman turns out to be 

A FOREIGN princess! 

The factor cast on a desolate island, from which he is afterwards rescued by the arri- 
val of a supernatural-looking being in a boat, who is found out to be the ghost of the 
Qiristian whose burial he had obtained in Turkey. The factor and princess arrive at 
her father's court — their reception — ^marriage — re-appearance of the ghost, and other 
particulars. 



156 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

It is, in truth, a comical climate, — I, but just now in Cimmerian 
darkness, find myself in sudden sunshine. The mist has risen ; the sky 
is almost without a cloud, and I find myself in the centre of a splendid 
hill country. The height I have mounted gives me an expanded pros- 
pect ; for the extent of this debatable land may range, probably, to one 
hundred and forty or fifty square miles. The whole of this pastoral dis- 
trict is a succession of hills ; some are irregularly shaped ; most of them 
are pointed, and others are nearly conical. The sides are smooth and 
grassy, excepting the steeper acclivities, which generally are heath-clad 
to the summit, and commonly terminate in rock or shingle. 

The Cheviots are much lonelier than the Lammermuir. From the 
high ground I occupy, and which commands the lower undulations of 
this mountain district, within an area of ten miles I can only discover 
three herdsmen's houses. From the solitary character of the country 
even at the present day, one can readily imagine, that these secluded 
hills in earlier times were the favourite retreat of outlaws and lawless 
men ; while the immense extent of solitudes, covering 100,000 acres, 
and according to tradition largely stocked with deer, would hold out in- 
ducements to the hunters of the age, too powerful to be resisted. 

A district such as this — partly under Scottish jurisdiction, partly 
under English, and the entire claimed by both — would form a field on 
which national hostility would occasionally display itself, and eternal 
collisions must take place. In auld lang syne, a border baron was 
jealous of his right of chase, as a country squire is now of his grouse 
and blackcocks. Men did not go upon the moors as they do at present. 
Personal security required that their followings should be large. Royal 
huntings were attended by a small army ; and border nobles masked 
many an intended foray by collecting their allies and retainers, under 
pretext of chasing " the dun deer." 

It may be readily imagined, that these extensive huntings brought 
on sanguinary affrays — for the deer stalking of a Percy and a Douglas, 
was not of the character of a "prince consort's." Their chase was not 
the type of war ; but too frequently the chase ended in a border com- 
bat, and as the ballad goes — 

" The child might rue that's still unborn, 
The hunting of that day." 

The old legend of " Chevy Chace," is founded on one of these unfortu- 
nate collisions. That a severe encounter between the exasperated Bor- 
derers ensued is certain ; but, poeticd licentid, the bard has borrowed 
the more startling incidents of his ballad from the field of Otterburn. 
Neither Percy nor Douglas fell in this " sad hunting " — Lord MaxweU 
escaped intact — Widdrington was not " stumped out," as the poet will 
have it, — and Chevy Chace is very pleasant to read, and perfectly 
fictitious — for no historic notice corroborates the truth of the ballad — 
that, 

" When his legs were cut away. 
He fought upon the stumps." 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. I57 

The Cheviot shepherds in the olden time were held in lowly estima- 
tion. They were reputed to be semi-savage and ignorant, superstitious 
and brutish in their habits and manners — and Hutchinson represents 
them as "a most wretched, indolent, and ferocious race of beings." If 
such they were in his time, the schoolmaster has been abroad indeed, 
and a sweeping reformation has been effected among the Cheviots ; for 
if I may judge from the inmates of my own head-quarters — and they 
are shepherds by descent, and, as a people, are indigenous to these hills 
— excepting a brusque mannerism which is inseparable from lives and 
pursuits apart from all the world, these Highlanders are totally the reverse 
of what they were formerly described to be. Wretched they are not — 
they are well clad, and lodged and fed. I see two fine cows milked 
morning and evening by the lassie. A supply of capital peat, sufficient 
for a twelvemonth's consumption, is neatly built beside the house, and 
capped with sods to secure the fuel from the weather. A runlet of 
pure spring water is carried close to the gable by an artificial canal. 
There are bee-hives in the garden ; and that garden is plentifully 
stocked with kale, carrots, and onions. I observed a cheese under the 
press, and there are half a score laid past within the spence. A hog is 
fattening for the winter, and sundry hams and pieces of bacon hang 
against the kitchen walls, and show that the commissariat is far from 
being exhausted. Of bread they bake two kinds — one is a half-inch- 
thick cake of fine flour, and a couple of feet in diameter — the other is 
thrice the size in solidity, and composed of a mixture of barley and pea- 
meal. I have paid particular attention to the dietary, and I may say 
that it is unvarying. When going to the hill, the men supply them- 
selves a discretion, with cake, number two, and cheese ; at eight o'clock, 
the lassies generally take the breakfast to the muir, unless the sheep 
are so close to the house as will allow their keeper to take the meal 
indoors. Dinner usually consists of broose, i. e. bacon, kale, barley, 
and, I think, oatmeal ; and supper, like breakfast, is always porridge 
and milk. I have been here a week, and have not observed a variation 
in the mode of living. Of the furniture and utensils requisite for domes- 
tic comfort, thei'e seems to be almost a superfluity ; nay more, there 
are articles of rather recherche character, namely, 

" The varnished clock that cHcks behind the door," 

and a weatherglass suspended beside it. 

I think I have disproved the charge of wretchedness, and that of 
indolence is just as incorrect. I never saw any occupation which in- 
volves more anxiety and so much time, as a shepherd's life. Summer 
or winter, daylight is the signal to rise — and until the sun dips in the 
ocean, the herdsman continues on the hill. In the first gray light of 
morning, I hear the men set out — and frequently night has fallen, be- 
fore a whiff"of tobacco wafted from the kitchen, announces their return. 

In estimating the varied description of live and dead stock which 
indicate pastoral comfort, I omitted to notice a fine brood mare, with a 
thriving colt at her foot. Will the reader start when I make a clean 
breast, and avow that this brood mare has " borne the weight of Anto- 
ny." I had directed a horse and guide to be in waiting at the town 



158 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

where the mail coach deposited me ; and, fancy my surprise, when on 
inquiring for my charger and orderly, a brood mare and a highland 
lassie answered the summons. The " ephippia," as Pangloss would 
say, was in keeping with the steed — and in place of the customary 
conveniency of pigskin, a broad pad, constructed on the plan of a how- 
dah for an elephant, was placed upon the mare's back, with that useful 
but obsolete accessory — a crupper. I felt no ambition to witch the 
Wooler world with deeds of noble horsemanship ; and requested the 
lassie to precede me until we had cleared the town. In a moment she 
jumped upon a cart — vaulted to the howdah — off she trotted ; and clear 
of the town, I found her dismounted and in waiting. Jessie is seventeen 
— and Jessie is a very pretty specimen of mountain beauty. Could I 
allow her to walk six weary miles over bog and heather? I, an Irish- 
man by birth, and a soldier by profession ! Heaven forfend ! 

" Jessie," I said, " the mare will carry double." 

" She'd carry ten if she had only back eneugh !" returned the 
lassie. 

I drew up beside the stone dyke — Jessie hopped upon it like a lamp- 
lighter — the mare, with maternal solicitude to rejoin her offspring, 
started at a round trot — and away we bumped, my fair companion in- 
timating "jist to giv' the beastie leeberty to gang her own gah." I 
followed Jessie's advice. Regardless of a double burden, we threaded 
our way over " bank, bush, and scaur " in perfect safety — and reached 
our destination with as much ease as if we had a turnpike road to tra- 
verse. 

Only once did the sagacious quadruped exhibit the slightest inde- 
cision. A morass was on either side, and the narrow horse-path which 
twisted through, at one spot looked particularly suspicious. The mare 
stopped short, put her foot carefully forward, felt cautiously twice or 
thrice for a stone, and the moment she ascertained the solidity of her 
footing, she strided across, and trotted off with what appeared to be a 
neigh of triumph. 

There are here, as I said before, a large collection of sheep dogs. 
They are all valuable, acute, obedient, and of gentle disposition, save 
one. He is a surly, ill-tempered brute, acknowledges but one master, 
and will neither receive or return a civility. As a mountain dog, they 
tell me that he is invaluable ; but even to his selected master, he gives but 
a discretionary obedience. If young Sandy corrects him, he will 
brood over it for an hour. He dares not venture to bite the shepherd ; 
but " he gaes unco' near it, for whiles he maks a gaunch * at the plaid, 
and whiles at the breeks." This appears to satisfy his wounded honour 
— for after the gaunch, he recovers his mental serenity, and goes to 
sleep among the heather. 

After wading through the ghost stories which Jessie had lent me, as 
the evening cleared, I proceeded down the burns and commenced ang- 
ling at their junction. I had killed three or four dozen small, lean 
trouts, and was about to return home, when a voice from the bank 
above, observed that, *' aifter the mist, it was a braw evenin'." 

I looked up, and even the apparition of Mrs. Veal could not have 
• Anglice — a snap. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 



159 



Startled me as much as the speaker did. He was a tall, gaunt, emaci- 
ated old man ; face, hands, clothes, and accoutrements, black as his 
Satanic majesty is generally represented to be by those who have had 
the honour of being presented to him. A stubbly beard and " unkempt 
locks," white as snow itself, contrasted with his swart exterior — while 
a bundle of sweeping apparatus under his arm announced his calling. 
He despised the appellation " sweep," but named himseff a chimney- 
doctor. He was not alone, for presently a middle-aged person, with a 
tinker's budget on his back, joined the old man on the bank ; and in 
another minute, a very handsome gipsy girl topped the heath bank, and 
completed the group. On inquiry, I found they were bound to Alnwifck 
for the fair — and that I had three generations in my presence. The 
old man was eighty-two, the son was fifty, and the girl was nineteen. 

These singular people are numerous on the borders ; and, indeed, 
it would seem that the debatable land had become their adopted coun- 
try. A village called Yetholm, forms a sort of head-quarters ; and 
there the royalty of Egypt generally is resident. Like the Jews, they 
dislike field labour ; but are extremely clever in all manual employ- 
ments, from coarse tinker- work to mending china. They are awful 
poachers : the river, the preserve, and the hen-roost, are all unscrupu- 
lously plundered ; and the spoliation is so ably effected, that seldom a 
detection occurs. Of moral honesty they have no idea whatever ; and 
where all engagements are merely conventional, moral purity cannot 
be expected to exist. In many points of character, they closely as- 
similate with the Jews. They won't enlist, except with a premeditated 
intention of desertion — neither the Jew nor the gipsy will boldly take 
the highway ; but, no matter how infamously the money is acquired, 
both will pocket it, and their answer would be, " non olet." 

The difference between these outcast races seems to lie in the one 
inhabiting towns, and the other in avoiding them. Were I condemned 
to consort with " villainous company," give me the gipsy. " I like to 
behold," quoth Washington Irving, " their clear olive complexions, their 
romantic black eyes, their raven locks, their lithe slender figures ; and 
to hear them, in low silver tones, dealing forth magnificent promises of 
honours and estates, of world's wealth, and ladies' love. Their mode 
of life, too, has something in it very fanciful and picturesque. They 
are the free denizens of nature, and maintain a primitive independence 
in spite of law and gospel ; of county jails and country magistrates. 
It is curious to see this obstinate adherence to the wild unsettled habits 
of savage life transmitted from generation to generation, and preserved 
in the midst of one of the most cultivated, populous and systematic 
countries in the world." 

Of the two races, the gipsy is decidedly the preferable. The one 
lives in the open air ; follows neat and cleanly occupations; steals a 
few poultry from the farmer ; and adds a snared hare or two to the 
mess ; on the same principle that Macheath requested a kiss, " to give 
his wine a flavour." The Jew lives in filth ; deals in filth ; and dies 
in filth. In person, he is unclean ; in religion, unclean ; and in moral 
feeling, utterly unclean. Gipsies are of a higher order. If one of 
them plights faith, the act covenanted to be done will be executed to 



150 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

the letter ; but were father Abraham to appear in the flesh, and visit 
Petticoat Lane or Bevis Marks, his adopted children would throw him 
over, and do the patriarch " to a turn." 

The gipsy delights in what the old people called "wood-craft." He 
ties a killing fly ; and, in a trummelled* stream, . none" can beat him 
with worm or minnow. He nets hares and partridges to perfection ; 
and as he can kill game, he can also kill vermin. The descendants of 
the patriarchs — and they are a dirty specimen of the old stock — hunt 
only after " miscellaneous property " which has been purloined, and 
garments which will stand a little touching up ; but instances are not 
rare, where gipsy sk^l was as eminent in music as in wood-craft. 

William Allan is celebrated in Border tradition. He was born at 
Bellingham in 1704, and was first married to a girl of gipsy stamp, and 
after her death to the daughter of a clergyman who resided on the bor- 
ders of Scotland. He constantly kept a kennel, containing dogs of 
different sizes and breeds, each properly calculated and duly disciplined 
for the destruction of some particular species of animals. He was par- 
ticularly attached to one dog among his valuable pack, called Peachem, 
and which he had trained to hunt otters. So confident was he of this 
animal's sagacity and perseverance, that he used to say, "If ever 
Peachem spoke, he could sell the otter's skin." A gentleman, whom 
he esteemed as his best friend, offered him, by way of experiment, fifty 
guineas for this animal, but which Allan resolutely refused. He was 
generally known throughout the country, being engaged to keep most 
of the gentlemen's fishponds free from all kinds of noxious vermin. He 
also excelled in the arts of fishing, basket-making and bagpipe-playing. 
Living on the banks of the Coquet, he drew great part of his subsist- 
ence from it ; and despised the man who suffered want on the banks 
of that fine river. He accumulated the sum of 400?. by his various 
avocations ; but lending it to a person who afterwards became insolvent, 
was reduced to a parish pittance in the evening of his days. So at- 
tached was he to the Coquet, that he composed two tunes, the one — 
"We'll a' to the Coquet and woo," and the other — "Salmon tails up the 
water." These favourite tunes he always played with enthusiastic 
animation. He was a perfect stranger to letters; vulgar in manners, 
and uncouth in conversation ; but his conceptions were keen, and his 
answers and remarks wonderfully shrewd, and highly amusing. In 
the language of sportsmen, he died game ; for when nature seemed ex- 
hausted, and his pious neighbours were kindly admonishing him of the 
awful consequences of dying unprepared, with all his sins upon his 
head, he exclaimed, with some degree of peevishness, " Pshaw! hand 
me the pipes, and we'll give you Dorrington Lads yet." Nor would 
he be pacified until they were brought — when he expended his last 
breath in attempting to sound his bagpipes ! 

James Allan was the youngest of six sons of the above William. 
He was born in 1729-30 at a gipsy camp or rendezvous in Rothbury 
Forest. From close application, assisted by a just and accurate ear for 
music, he became celebrated for his performances on the Northumber- 
land small pipes ; and the superior sweetness of his melodies, always 

* Discoloured. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. IQI 

procured him a welcome reception at fairs, weddings, and merry meet- 
ings. He was remarkably strong and athletic, and excelled in feats of 
running, jumping, climbing, wrestling, riding and swimming. His face 
expressed a disposition to sharpness and cunning — while his keen dark 
eyes, acute features, promptitude, and effrontery, imparted a look strong, 
ly mdicative of roguery. He was extremely vain, and, like other fops 
of the gipsy tribe, fond of gaudy flaunting dress and ornaments. 
Though he enjoyed good living, his habitual caution saved him from 
habits of intoxication. He was hasty and revengeful ; but wanting cour- 
age, he always effected his purposes by art and stratagem. Like his fa- 
ther, he had few competitors in field sports, and excelled so much in the 
art of training dogs, that he sometimes succeeded in teaching,them to 
steal with nearly as much dexterity as himself. Theft he did not seem 
to consider as any crime ; and when detected in any of his pilfering 
tricks, he stood before his accusers unabashed, as if he inherited the 
right of plundering his neighbours. He was eminently successful in 
his amours, and had a great many wives, two of whom are yet livino- ;* 
but he seldom evinced any concern for his offspring. He frequently en- 
listed as an eligible mode of raising supplies, and always deserted at 
the earliest opportunity. On one occasion, being pursued by a recruit- 
ing party in the neighbourhood of Hexham, on passing a stile, the 
drummer cut him with his sword upon his wrist. Allan viewed the 
wound with emotion, and, looking at the drummer with minstrel pride, 
exclaimed, "Ye hae spoiled the best pipe hand in England." This ac- 
cident prevented the repetition of such swindling tricks. He was twice 
acquitted of charges of felony at the Assizes at Newcastle, but was at 
length convicted of horse-stealing, and received sentence of death. His 
punishment was afterwards mitigated to perpetual imprisonment ; and 
after he had remained in confinement at Durham for nearly seven 
years, his pardon was signed by the Prince Regent, but before it arrived 
death had loosened his bonds. The long and chequered life of this 

famed piper was closed on the 13th of November, 1810. 

******* 

I had departed from the herdsman's house " alone in my glory" 
when repairing to the burn ; but I came back with a tail — for the 
sweep, the tinker, and the gipsy girl formed my escort. They were 
hospitably received, and many questions were put to them, respecting 
the general appearance of the crops, and the probable price that wool 
would realize. These wanderers are always expected to repay moun- 
tain hospitality with intelligence ; and from their erratic mode of life, 
they obtain a knowledge of the humbler occurrences in the circum- 
jacent country, which to the highland hermits is fresh and interesting. 
When they had discussed their evening meal, I issued from my 
"great chamber," and joined the company now fully assembled in the 
kitchen ; for the lambs had settled for the night, and the herdsmen were 
relieved from duty until daylight. There was a cheerful peat fire, a 
home-made candle, and a clean-swept hearth. The ancient sweep and 
the master of the house were seated on either side of the fire, discussing 
the rise and fall, not of empires, but of gimmers. The lassie, the pret- 
..,„,j .,,,_, * Some twenty years ago. 



162 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

tiest and eldest of the daughters, was seated on a bed, and the gipsy 
girl telling her fortune. At my advent, every countenance brightened 
— and well they might — for I was bearer of a bottle of whiskey. Mar- 
vellous were its effects — and it seemed to Trojan and Tyrian to be 
equally acceptable. The dimmed blue eye of eighty lighted up, and 
as he tossed off the bumper, which the lady of the house presented, the 
old Egyptian exclaimed to his son, the tinker — " Rab, blow up the 
pipes, maun ! and gie the gentleman a lilt." 

The order Avas obeyed, and out from his wallet came an instrument, 
which, notwithstanding the preaching of covenanters, and the edicts of 
churchwardens,* still cheers the lonely homestead in the hills, and re- 
calls to the memory of the Borderers frays and forays which otherwise 
would have perished in the stream of time. 

Early next morning a tap at my door awoke me, and, to my sur- 
prise, the old sweep answered my order to come in. 

" Well, old sootie, what do you want ?" 

" Why, Colonel, I hear yeer boun for the low country," said the 
gipsy ; " an as I'm na sae soople on my legs as I ance was, I'm jist 
thinkin I'll nae gang to the fair, but keep ye company till they come 
back. There's an unco deal of auld warld sights na five mile aff — 
an, if ye please, I'll point them to ye." 

" Agreed,' — tell the gudewife to get breakfast, and then we'll start." 

The neighbourhood of Wooler, independently of its proximity to the 
field of Flodden, is within a few minutes' walk of one of those encamp- 
ments, touching whose uses and construction antiquaries are at issue. 
One of the finest of these singular works is the terraced mound which 
rises beside the little brook at Humbledon, and of which erections 
several are still perfect in Northumberland. Pennant describes them 
as " most exactly formed, a little raised in the middle, like a fine walk 
about twenty foot broad, and of very considerable length. In some 
places there were three, in others five flights, placed one above the other, 
terminating exactly in a line at each end, and most precisely finished. 

I believe that antiquaries, taken as a body, are the greatest asses 
upon earth. That these terraced mounds were intended for any mili- 
tary purposes, is absurd — for the flanks are imdefended. That they 
were designed, as Wallis will have it, for " the militia to arrange them- 
selves on, that they might show themselves to more advantage," is 
equally silly — for any hill side would answer the same purpose. 
Another learned Theban will have them to be theatres. But it is 
quite evident, whatever was the purpose they were constructed for, 
it was not a military one ; and the design for which they were thrown 
up, must have been either a civil or religious one. 

Immediately beneath this curious succession of green mounds, 
stands tlie battle-field of Humbledon ; or, from the slaughter which 

* If one might draw conclusions from a record, dated May 21, 1681, the Bambo- 
rough churchwardens had no partiality for music or dried haddocks. 

" Presented Thomas Anderson of Swinehoe, for playing on a bagpipe before a 
bridegroom on a Sunday ; Eliza Mills for scalding and drying fish on the Lord's day ; 
and William Younge, of Budle, a common swearer." 

Signed by four churchwardens. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. I53 

marked the defeat of Douglas, familiarly called " Redriggs." The 
battle v/as fought on Holyrood day, 1402, and the Scottish army, which 
had invaded England, and ravaged the country as far as Newcastle, 
was signally defeated. The English forces which intercepted Douglas 
in his retreat, were ably commanded by Lords Percy Jlnd March, and 
the victory they achieved was decisive. Douglas was severely wound- 
ed, and lost an eye ; five earls, two lords, and eight knights were among 
the prisoners ; and five hundred Scots, besides those who died upon the 
battle-field, perished in crossing the Tweed. The defeats of Hallidon 
hill and Flodden were not more disastrous, and all three are attributable 
to the same causes ; the superiority of the English archers, and the bad 
generalship of the Scottish commanders. 

Hallidon hill was lost by Lord Douglas, as Waterloo was by Na- 
poleon — both generals uselessly expending their cavalry. At Flodden, 
James allowed Surrey to pass the Till without opposition, and quietly 
select his own position. At Humbledon, Percy's dispositions obliged 
Douglas to quit the height, and fight upon the plain. The gray-goose 
shaft did the rest — for in English hands, the bow appears to have been 
as formidable then as the bayonet is now. 

'• Parents have flinty hearts," and a curious instance of inflexible 
displeasure towards an only child, occurred in this neighbourhood. In 
1807, and at the advanced age of eighty-seven. Sir Patrick Ewins died 
near Wooler, where he had resided fifty-six years, in deep retirement. 
The baronet had married in early life a Neapolitan lady, by whom he 
had a son, and this son mortally offended him, by marrying without his 
consent. Sir Patrick sold his estates, invested the produce in the funds, 
cut his disobedient child off with forty pounds a year, devised forty 
thousand pounds in various legacies, and left jive hundred thousand in 
remainder to a distant relation ; who dying before the testator, this im- 
mense fortune in right of succession, devolved upon a perfumer, who 
kept a little shop in a Welsh country town. 



CHAPTER XXVL 



Is there such a thing as the philosophy of hunting ? If there be, 
the Border would best illustrate it. There, kings have had their 
hattues, and mitred abbots, who never, like Jack Falstaff, imperilled 
their holy voices by " halloing psalms," greatly endangered them in 
bellowing all points of venery. There the sleuth-dog was kept by 
royal ordinance, to 

" trace the stealthy pilferer ;" 

and theie the follower of Nimrod may yet ride to his heart's content, 
afler a pack of fox-hounds so correctly packed, that, Hibemici, you 
might " cover them with a blanket." 

There is a connecting link in the history of a Northumbrian squire, 
who was in the flesh some sixty years ago, which is extremely hiterest- 
ing. The last of an extinct family, a Mr. Bullock was then a master 



J^ HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

of hounds; and as the doctrines of 7neum et tuum were but slowly 
acquired by the Borderers, even at this recent period cattle-stealing 
and other larcenies were frequent. Mr. Bullock's hounds were trained 
to run the human foot, and frequently the skulking culprit was found 
in some bosky glen or cayern, through the agency of the fine noses of 
his pack. None could dispute the utility of purpose his fox-hounds 
were often engaged in ; but on one occasion, the old gentleman, I 
believe he was a bachelor, might have exclaimed with the royal hunts- 
man, — 

" Wo worth the chase — wo worth the day !" 

The custom of the country then, and to a certain extent now, to- 
lerates nocturnal visits between fair enslavers and love-sick swains* — 
and it is asserted that, like Welsh bundling, the consequences are gene- 
rally innocuous. In this, I am altogether skeptical — and I do not 
hesitate to say, that great immorality and miserable marriages are 
every-day results attendant on this indecent custom. Place every con- 
sideration apart, the solitary annoyance of midnight interviews disturb- 
ing a private dwelling, and rendering it, what in old time they called 
in Ireland " an open house," would be sufficiently objectionable. So 
thought Mr. Bullock — and, sick of midnight wooings, he detea'mined to 
ascertain the identity, and interdict the nocturnal addresses of a lover, 
whose visits had become as regular as they had proved troublesome. 
In an attempt to intercept him, the border Romeo escaped, and found, 
as he fancied, a safe shelter in a neighbouring coppice. But Mr. Bul- 
lock was not to be thrown out — and two couple of his hounds were laid 
upon the traces of the fugitive. Without a check they ran into the 
gay deceiver, ahd poor Mr. Bullock plumed himself no little on the 
exploit. 

But his triumph was a brief one- — up rose the whole spider-brushing 
sisterhood, en masse ; and never did Daniel, surnamed the Liberator, 
roar more lustily for "justice for Ould Ireland," than the Border 
spinsters, in deprecating invaded rights. They issued a solemn mani- 
festo, in which it was declared that any gentleman who objected to 
hundling might become his own bed-maker ; and that the unfortunate 
master of hounds was regularly tabooed, until he should have expressed 
contrition for his offence. Mr. Bullock was a good man and true ; 
rode, as his enemies would acknowledge, sportingly, and never was 
known " to crane a fence;" but what chance had he against this fair 
and irritated community ? and accordingly he cried peccavi. • ' ,i 

Although bundle-huntings were inhibited in a land whef0' eirpii 

cardinals! had been plundered, Mr. Bullock had other ganle to foHbW, 

'■■■/o'l 

* " After the family are gone to bed, the fire darkened, and the candle extinguished, 
the lover cautiously enters the house. In this murky situation they remain for a few 
hours, adjusting their love concerns, and conversing on the common topics of the day, 
till the increasing cold of a winter's night, or the light of a summer's morning, dh'^ 
nounces the time of separation." — Surtees.- 

t " There be ruines of a castel longynge to the Lord Borow, at Mydford, on the 
south side of the Wansbecke, IIII miles above Morpeth. It was beten down by Uie 
Kynge. For one Sir Gilbert Midelton robby'd a Cardinal commg out of Scotland, 
and fleyd to his castle of Mydford." — Leland. 



HILL-SIDK AND BORDER SKETCHES. 165 

and now and then he ran into a gipsy, and more frequently into a 
fox.t 

In the sporting annals of the Border, the gipsy tribe holds a 
prominent place ; and in " lang syne," they were the most accomplished 
poachers in the north, and indeed, to this day sustain their former 
reputation. But one of the most original and intelligent personages, 
whose feats, musical and sporting, are still commemorated, was a blind 
man called Marshall, who died some twenty years ago. He could play 
tolerably well upon the violin, and was a favourite performer at fairs, 
feasts and merry meetings. He travelled regularly over the adjoining 
country, like the minstrels of old, collecting the annual gift of seed 
corn and wool at shearing time; and could pass safely through the 
most intricate and dangerous by-roads, either on foot or upon horseback. 
One very dark and rainy night he was employed as a guide, and safely 
conducted a stranger from Felton to Warkworth. The traveller gave 
him in mistake a bad half-crown, but Johnny instantly discovered that 
the coin was a counterfeit, and indignantly observed that it was " a 
shame to attempt to pass bad money on a blind man." The astonished 
stranger perceived, for the first time, that his careful guide was really 
blind, and immediately took back the base money, and rewarded him 
more liberally. Once, when Johnny was crossing a field, he heard 

* " Whenever a hen roost was robbed, geese killed, or any other depredation com- 
mitted by Reynard in the neighbouring country, Mr. Bullock was always applied to, 
and seldom failed to exterminate the nocturnal robber. At one time, a most extraor- 
dinary instance occurred of the quality of two of his fox-hounds. He threw off his 
pack in a cover near his own place, when, on beating the bushes, a fox was unkennel- 
led on the flank of the rear hounds. They doubled upon him with their usual eager- 
ness, and after a spirited chase lost his track ; but the two leading hounds were miss- 
•ing, and they neither came up at the voice of the huntsman, nor the sound of the 
bugle. The fox took towards Rothbury forest, where he was seen, followed by the 
hounds. Here, it appears, he was headed off — when he directed his course to a strong- 
hold on Simon-side hill, from whence, being still pursued, he ran northward, and crossed 
the Coquet at Crageud, where he expected to find an asylum. Being again disap- 
pointed, he made towards Thornton Crag, where he was equally unsuccessful ; he then 
stretched across the country towards Cheviot. A shepherd, on the skirts of that moun- 
tain, (in the evening,) heard the cry of hounds at a distance, and shortly after saw a 
fox coming towards him at a slow pace, and two hounds coming behind him running 
abreast, and alternately chanting in a feeble key. The man confined his cur, and 
stood stationary till they came up to the fox, which they tumbled down and fell upon, 
but were unable to worry. The spectator then sprang to the spot, took Reynard by 
the brush, and pulled him forward in order to dispatch him, but he was already at the 
point of expiring. As soon as the hounds were a Uttle recovered he gave them some 
pieces of bread, and then conveying them to his cottage, entertained them with the 
best viands his cupboard could afford. He had them called at Wooler market and the 
neighbouring churches ; but na person claiming them they continued under his hospi- 
table roof until Mr. B. accidentally heard of their place of residence, when he imme- 
diately recovered his two favourites, and liberally rewarded their kind host. The zig- 
zag course they had run in the chase was computed at upwards of seventy miles ! and 
what is remarkable, the fox seemed perfectly well acquainted with all the strongholds 
in his passage. This skilfiil sportman's matchless breed of hounds was kept untainted 
by his heir, the late Thomas Bullock, Esq. Since his death, they have been disposed 
of to the Northumberland Hunt, except a few aged favourites, that are allowed to 
range about their old haunts." The spot was pointed out by an old shepherd to the 
author, when he was recently rambling among the Cheviots. — Mackenzie's View of 
Northumberland. 



166 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

some partridges rise near him ; and instantly threw his staff with such 
precision as to bring down a brace, which he picked up and brought 
home for dinner. 

He was a true sportsman, and always listened with rapture to the 
cry of hounds and the halloo of the huntsmen. During many 5'ear.s 
he kept what is called in the country " a leather-plater," to run at races 
in the neighbourhood ; and from the sound of his own horse's feet when 
passing, he could tell the exact place he held, judge of the probability 
of his winning, and back his nag accordingly. He excelled in social 
sports and games ; few could compete with him in playing cards or 
quoits ; and when he went nutting in the autumn, his wallet was 
always first filled, and he uniformly took .the nearest way home. He 
frequently wrought with his brother as a blacksmith, and was a good 
steady striker ; but indeed he was an adept in a number of mechanical 
operations.* If he had the most casual acquaintance with a person, 
he could recognize his voice many years afterwards. In short, Johnny 
Marshall presented a most extraordinary example, how far the want of 
sight may be almost compensated, by the superior acuteness of the 
other senses. 

It is remarkable that in the debatable land two interesting species — 
one, the bloodhound, almost extinct ; and the other, the wild cattle at 
Chillingham, still finely preserved — give an interest in its border 
zoology to the counties touching the Tweed, that none in Britain 
possesses. So late as 1616, the royal commissioners directed that every 
district in Cumberland should be supplied with a stated number of 
" sleuth-dogs," to be maintained at the county expense — and to interrupt 
them when laid on, was made a serious misdemeanour. There are 
still numerous overgrown and useless dogs to be met with, to which the 
title of bloodhound is extended ; but I am inclined to think that the 
pure original stock has passed away. Of the wild cattle, which 
Boethius describes, and tradition affirms to have been once plentiful in 
the Highlands, in Chillingham alone the last of the species will be 
found. f 

To acknowledge that a man was on the border, and had not visited 
lord Tankerville's, would be held to be as gothic a confession, as having 
been in Rome and never entered St. Peter's. The castle is a heavy 
Elizabethan building, of rather disagreeable proportions ; but the park 
holds out attractions to the traveller, which consist in the singular breed 
of cattle, of which it boasts a solitary possession. " Their colour is 
invariably white ; muzzle black ; the whole of the inside of the ear,:}: 

* Border History. * 

t Half a century ago these beautiful animals were more numerous. " The only 
breeds now remaining in the kingdom," says Bewick, " are in the park at Chilling- 
ham castle, in Northumberland ; at WoUaton, in Nottinghamshire ; the seat of Lord 
Middleton, at Gisburne in Craven, Yorkshire ; at Limehall, in Cheshire ; and at 
Chartley, m Staffordshire." 

t " About twenty years since there were a few at Chillingham with black ears, but 
the present park-keeper destroyed them ; since which period there has not been one 
with black ears. The ears and noses of all those at WoUaton are black ; at Gisburne, 
there are some perfectly white, except the inside of their ears, which are brown. They 
are without horns ; very strong-boned, but not high ; they are said to have been origi- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 167 

and about one-third of the outside from the tip downwards, red ; horns 
white, with black tips, very fine, and bent upwards ; some of the bulls 
have a thin upright mane, about an inch and a half, or two inches long ; 
the weight of the oxen is from 35 to 45 stone, and the cows from 25 to 
35 stone the four quarters, 141b. to the stone. The beef is finely 
marked, and of excellent flavour. From the nature of their pasture, 
and the frequent agitation they are put into by the curiosity of stran- 
gers, it cannot be expected they should get very fat ; yet the six-years 
old oxen are generally very good beef, from whence it may be fairly 
supposed that in proper situations they would feed well. 

" At the first appearance of any person they set off at full speed, 
and gallop to a considerable distance, when they make a wheel round, 
and come boldly up again, tossing their heads in a menacing manner ; 
on a sudden they make a full stop, at the distance of forty or fifty 
yards, looking wildly at the object of their surprise ; but upon the 
least motion being made, they again turn round, and gallop off with 
equal speed, but forming a shorter circle, and returning with a bolder 
and more threatening aspect, they approach much nearer, when they 
make another stand, and again gallop off. This they do several times, 
shortening their distance, and advancing nearer, till they come within 
a few yards, when most people think it prudent to leave them. 

" The mode of killing them was, perhaps, the only modern remains 
of the grandeur of ancient hunting. On notice being given that a wild 
bull would be killed upon a certain day, the inhabitants of the neigh- 
bourhood came in great numbers, both horse and foot ; the horsemen 
rode off the bull from the rest of the herd until he stood at bay, when 
a marksman dismounted and shot him. 

" At some of these huntings, twenty or thirty shots have been fired 
before he was subdued ; on such occasions, the bleeding victim grew 
desperately furious from the smarting of his wounds, and. the shouts of 
savage joy that were echoing from every side. From the number of 
accidents that happened, this dangerous mode has been seldom prac- 
tised of late years, the park-keeper alone generally shooting them with, 
a rifled gun at one shot. 

" When the cows calve, they hide their calves for a week or ten 
days in some sequestered situation, and go and suckle them two or 
three times a-day. If any person come near the calves, they clap 
their heads close to the ground, and lie like a hare in form to hide 
themselves. This is a proof of their native wildness, and is corrobo- 
rated by the following circumstances that happened to the writer of ' 
this narrative, who found a hidden calf two days old, very lean, and 
very weak ; on stroking its head it got up, pawed two or three times 
like an old bull, bellowed very loud, retired a few steps, and bolted at 
his legs with all its force ; it theri began to paw again, bellowed, step- 
ped back, and bolted as before ; but knowing its intention, and stepping 
aside, it missed him, fell, and was so very weak that it could not rise, 
though it made several efforts ; but it had done enough, the whole herd 

nally brought from Whalley abbey in Lancashire, upon its dissolution in the thirty-third 
of Henry VIII. Tradition says they were drawn to Gisburne by the power of music." 
—Bewick. 



168 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

were alarmed, and coming to its rescue obliged him to retire ; for the 
darns will suffer no person to touch their calves without attacking them 
with impetuous ferocity. When any one happens to be wounded, or 
grown weak and feeble through age or sickness, the rest of the herd 
set upon it and gore it to death."* 

One remarkable fact connected with these animals, whose origin 
is lost in the stream of time, and whose continuation of species is 
confined to a solitary domain,f is, that as bees have their queen, so 
have those beautiful but dangerous cattle a dictator. One bull 
assumes an absolute sovereignty over the herd, — but he enjoys the 
dignity, like mob patriots, by a very uncertain tenure. Rivals aspire 
to supremacy, and might, not right, confers and maintains the .dis- 
tinction. The bull-king must defend crown and dignity with his 
horns — and as " fat Jack" ren;arked that he " could not last for 
ever," so the monarch of Chillingham, in course of time, meets with 
some more youthful and vigorous competitor, and is defeated, deposed, 
and driven from the herd, to end his days in exile. These are termed 
by the keepers " banished bulls," and they are generally selected for 
the chasseur to prove his rifle on ; and he who was " but yesterday a 
king," is not permitted to continue — 

" So fallen, and still alive." 

Bad as the general temper of the herd is, deposition does not im- 
prove that of the "banished bull." To every thing biped or quadruped, 
he conceives alike a mortal detestation. His dynasty has ended, his 
seraglio proved false, his children ungrateful. He chews his cud in 
bitterness of spirit ; vengeance occupies his thoughts ; and nothing 
would afford him more pleasure when in this unchristian state of mind, 
than to have a sly poke at some incautious stranger. Many narrow 
escapes from the fury of these splendid but savage animals have oc- 
curred — and probably, among the narrowest, might be instanced that of 
the son of the noble proprietor.:): 

It is singular to find, that while in animals each peculiar species 
has its distinguishing characteristic — as speed in the greyhound, cour- 
age in the bull-dog, intelligence in the shepherd's colley, and acuteness 
in the highland terrier ; that there are now and again, strange aberra- 
tions met with in their tastes, and such as are totally opposed, also, to 
natural habits and dispositions. I had a French poodle who would drink 
grog until he got drunk, but in his latter days he became reformed ; for 
a stupid scoundrel gave Philip a glass of undiluted whisky — scalded 
his mouth — and from that moment he turned a teetotaler. In 1799, at 

* Baillie. 

t " Those at Burton Constable, in the county of York, were all destroyed by a 
distemper a few years since ; they varied shghtly from those at Chillingham, having 
black ears and muzzles, and the tips of their tails of the same colour ; they were also 
much larger, many of them weighing sixty stone, probably owing to the richness of 
the pasturage in Wolderness, but generally attributed to the difference of kind between 
those with black and with red ears ; the former of which they studiously endeavour to 
preserve. The breed which was at Drumlanrig, in Scotland, had also black ears." — 
Bewick. 

X Lord Ossulton. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 159 

the Angel Inn, at Felton, the landlord had domesticated a hedgehog so 
completely, that he came when he was called " Tom," and made a most 
excellent turnspit. Forty years ago, when Mr. Allgood hunted the 
Tindale country, a guinea hen, who had lost her partner, took to fox- 
hunting to kill grief. She regularly went a-field with the pack — kept 
a respectable place throughout the day, and always was in at the finish. 
It was believed that a conjugal bereavement, such as generally drives 
widows to the altar again, or to " rum and true religion," influenced 
this sporting bird. A cod-fish has been known to wear a gold watch, 
and a woodcock to sport a diamond.* 

In former ages, game of a high order were plentiful throughout all 
the border hills and covers, and modern discoveries have confirmed tra- 
dition in the asserted fact, that the red deer, now limited to highland 
forests, were once abundant on the banks of "silver Tweed." Not 
only have fossil remains been exhumed occasionally ; but, some thirty 
years ago in the neighbourhood of Bamborough, a whole herd — or rather 
their remains — were found in ground never previously disturbed, but 
which then was being broken up in search of freestone. About four 
feet below the surface of the earth, an enormous quantity of horns were 
discovered, perfect in their ramifications, and generally about three 
feet in length. Excepting one pair, preserved now in Bamborough 
castle, the whole of these fossil relics of other days, on exposure to the 
air, crumbled into dust. The most curious circumstance attendant on 
the affair is, that the herd appeared to have been inhumed entire ; for 
the skulls were attached to the antlers, and a very disagreeable smell 
of animal putridity, was felt sensibly by the labourers who opened the 
soil. 

That venison must have been attainable in great abundance in 
" auld lang syne " within the border counties, may also be inferred 
from the immense following, with which a baron or an abbot always 
took the field. Their escort — for safety, as much as state, induced 
this strong demonstration — were entirely dependent on the sylvan spoil 
procured during the expedition ; and we find by the old sporting re- 
turns of the chasse, that more stags and hinds were fairly and honour- 
ably brought do>vn upon the hill-side, than a German slaughtering 
party can massacre now-a-days in a pen-fold. Hence, the quantity 
annually killed by abbots and outlaws was immense ; and large indeed 
must have been the herds, which yielded sufficient supplies for holy 
churchmen and sinful moss-troopers. 

The pastimes and amusements of a people are generally correspond- 
ent with the simplicity or refinement of their habits. In these luxuri- 
ous days, one reads occasionally of deer stalking ; and the desperate 
fatigue attendant on the same is always minutely set forth. Now, the 
fact is, that in two cases out of three, this fatigue is done by deputy ; 
the deer-slayer being ensconced comfortably in a highland pass, until 
the gillies drive the stags within range of his rifle. You read of the 
daring exploit committed by some brewer or banker from the metropolis 
— and marvel that heart of brass and foot of speed could be produced 

* At Christmas, 1765, a woodcock was shot on Bate's island, near Seaton Dela- 
val, in whose stomach a valuable diamond was discovered. 



170 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

within sound of Bow bells. Now, the true picture and proceedings of 
a sporting snob are these. Dress him first in tartan, and as near the 
colour of heath as possible, give him next a breakfast that would do a 
dray-man, then place him in his embuscade, like Robinson Crusoe, with 
a couple of guns, a basket, and a miscellaneous cargo of cold chickens, 
tongue, potted game, and cherry brandy. If he be a banker, he will 
add "heavy-wet ;" if a brewer, he will reject it as a beverage only fit 
for the canaille, and substitute sheriy. With these slight assistants to 
support nature, and a Dolland's achromatic in his hands — by the way, 
a camp-stool or air-cushion is indispensable — there will he patiently 
keep watch for 

" The antler*!] monarch of the waste," 

from the matitudinal meal even unto the dinner hour. 

War and hunting are alike, and the martial deer-stalker on the 
borders, in the chase was as little overloaded as in the foray.* His eye 
was keen — his hand unerring — no distance would daunt him — no ob- 
stacle turn him from his purpose — no labour overcome a sinewy frame, 
inured from infancy to exercise — 

" Right up Benlomond could he press. 
And not a sob his toil confess " — 

and no matter in what wild ravine or distant waste the stag was har- 
boured, the moss-trooper and his matchless hound would trace him. 
Whether it were arrow or bullet, it was delivered with fatal accuracy ; 
and at nightfall he returned with his antlered prize, either to his bothey 
or his home, to present the spoils of the day to a smiling wife, or pretty 
mistress. Proudly his heart would swell, as he heard the tines number- 
ed, and the condition of his venison marvelled at ; for next to pricking 
to his wild valley, with stot and wedder lifted in a moonlight ride across 
the Tweed, the Borderer plumed himself on successful hunting on the 
nill-side. 

Indeed, this era seems to have been a bustling and a sporting pe- 
riod. When not employed in adopting the cattle of their neighbours 
across the water, the Borderers were busy in chasing deer, while jus- 
tices of the peace and portly parsons were also engaged in hunting — 
their game being moss-troopers and witches. A witch was worth a 
Jew's 'eye ; but the market was so overstocked, that a freebooter was 
considerably under par.f In 1628, a learned clerk, called Cuthbert 

* " The English passed over to the deserted camp, and saw proofs of that sim- 
plicity and hardness of living that gave the Scots, under skilfiil leaders, a superiority 
over more numerous and regular, but, at the same time, more luxurious troops than 
themselves. Their horses found subsistence every where, and carried them with rapid 
and unexpected marches. Their whole equipage consisted of a bag of oatmeal, 
which, as a supply in case of necessity, each soldier carried behind him ; together 
with a light plate of iron, on which he instantly baked the meal into a cake in the 
open fields. But his chief subsistence was the cattle which he seized ; and his cookery 
was as expeditious as all his other operations. After flaying the animal, he placed the 
skin, loose and hanging in the form of a bag, upon some stakes ; he poured water 
into it, kindled a fire below, and thus made it serve as a caldron for the boiling of his 
victuals " — History of the Borderers. 

t "At this time, when the country was infested with those thieves called moss- 
troopers, one of the family (the Carnabys) had a commission to apprehend and try 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 171 

Ridley, committed Jane Robson, for feloniously killing her sister-in-law, 
by " witchcraft and sorcery ;" and one of " the king's poor esquires," 
a gentleman indubitably of the Shallow order, seems to have taken great 
trouble to bring a Mrs. Margaret Stothard to the tar-barrel ; but he fail- 
ed. In the first count, the lady was charged " on a Sabbath-day, at 
night," by John Mills, " who being lyeing in his bedd, did heare a great 
blaste of wind, as he thought, goe by the window, and immediately some- 
thing fell on his harte with a greate weight, and gave a mightie cry like 
a catt." This somerset, as might have been expected, frightened John 
awfully ; but when he could open his eyes, he saw that he was bed-rid- 
den by Mrs. Stothard. These very indecorous visits were repeated, to 
John's terror and annoyance, until at a puff of wind, "the verie haires 
of his head would stand upright." Nor was she contented with perse- 
cuting Mr. Mills, for she murdered a child, and drove a calf distracted.* 
Besides these iniquities, she soured milk, disturbed the cows, and, in 
fact, was a devil among the dairy-maids. No wonder that Mr. Ogle 
endeavoured to get her hanged ; but a Belany jury allowed her to 
escape. 

The old Borderers were very superstitious in their practice of phar- 
macy, and were strong believers in the efficacy of charms and philtres. f 
In old women they had profound faith, provided they united physic with 
planetary influence. Gentlemen,_ also, who had graduated in the Hy- 
gean University, were in repute ; and certainly, if their treatment was 
ingenious as their tombstones, they must have been worthy of a Mori- 
sonian lectureship. 

It is supposed and asserted that puffing has I'eached perfection ; but, 
in my opinion, like steam power, it is still open to improvement. No 
doubt, of late years, great and glorious advances have been made in the 
art. Moses and Son deserve nobly of their country ; every gateway is 

them. Whilst he was engaged on the trial of some of them, a notorious and despe- 
rate villain was seized by his son, who asked his father what he should do with him? 
' Do with him,' said the old gentleman, ' why hang him !' As soon as the trial then 
in progress was ended, he ordered the man to be brought before him, but was told that 
he had been hanged instantly, according to his order. On complaint being made to 
the crown, a fine of four pounds per annum was laid on the Halton estate, which is 
still paid." — Eitson. 

* " There was a little calfe tyed in a band in another httle roome, and when she 
was gon (meaning Margaret), the calf went perfectly madd." 
t " She drew the splinter from the wound. 

And with a chann she stanched the blood ; 
She bade the gash be cleansed and bound ; 

No longer by his couch she stood ; 
But she has ta'en the broken lance, 
And wash'd it from the clottt^d gore ; 
And salv'd the splinter o'er and o'er. 
William of Deloraine, in trance. 
Whene'er she turned it round and round. 

Twisted as if she gall'd his wound. 
Then to her maidens she did say 

That he should be whole man and sound, 
Within the course of night and day. 

Full long she toil'd ; for she did rue 
Mishap to friend so stout and true." 

Lay of the Last Minstrel. 



17'2 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

papered at the expense of Professor Holloway, with unsparing hand ; 
Parr's pills are posted up in Shetland ; and Morison and Moat have pla- 
carded their vegetable panaceas on the Temple of Isis. But which of 
these modest individuals ever thought of turning a tombstone to ac- 
count ? 

In the churchyard of Cornhill, there is an old headstone ornamented 
with a Latin inscription, which commemorates a quack blacksmith, 
and also ingeniously insinuates, that although Professor Purdy has 
hopped the twig, Master Samuel, his son, will continue to carry on the 
business, and men of good hearts and bad heads, from him shall meet 
with every attention. Being translated the old quack's epitaph runs 
thus : — 

" Alas ! who shall now retard the scythe of death ? James Purdy, 
at the Bridge of Twizell, was an excellent old man, although not ex- 
empt from diseases. 

" lie died on the 4th day of December, A. D. 1752, aged 81 years, 
and, together with Jane his wife, and Eleanor his granddaughter, lies 
under this stone. 

"But, passenger, if thou hast a good heart, perhaps thou mayst live 
— Samuel, the son of James, survives, and is healthy, exercising the 
profession of his father, under his paternal roof. If thou seekest health, 
go thither." 

Now, is there a spot upon the surface of " this fair round globe," 
so pre-eminently adapted for a quack advertisement as a churchyard ? 
It may be difficult to fancy to what account Moses and Son may turn 
this important information — the article in principal demand not being 
exactly in their line, being what the Irish term, " a wooden surtout." 
Still, they are ingenious gentlemen ; and, as Newton founded his grand 
theory on the fall of a pippin, Heaven knows, to what advantages this 
hint may lead. I hold all concerned, however, my debtors to a sporting 
figure ; and will expect a winter supply for my outer man, from " the 
Monster Mart ;" and the freedom of the College of Health, from Professors 
Moat and Morison, enclosed in a gilt pill-box. I know not how to 
shape my demands against Parr and Holloway, excepting that they 
shall give me an indemnity, against being put to death by any of their 
nostrums. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



In physical and moral qualities nations degenerate ; But to this 
general effect of time upon the character, mental and personal, of a 
people, I hold the Borderers an exception. As a race, the inhabitants 
of the northern English counties are particularly fine ; and though a 
total departure from the restless and unlawful pursuits, which, in civil 
utility, rendered their progenitors rather a nuisance than a benefit to 
the body politic, has been fortunately effected, like the aborigines of 
Chillingham, they have preserved, unimpaired, the external advantages 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES, 173 

which nature had conferred upon their forefathers. On the English 
line of the Tweed, the peasantry are tall, active, and muscular. They 
have a military aptitude which is readily turned to account — in drill 
parlance, their " setting up " is easily efiected : the finest troops in the 
world here find their best recruits ; and the Blues and Life Guards 
from their splendid ranks can produce many a "bold Borderer." 

On the Scottish side, in physical appearance, there is a marked in- 
feriority. Generally, they are a strong, healthy, coarse-looking com- 
munity, with probably an average amount of thews and sinews with 
those of their southern neighbours ; but a long and slounging step, a 
stooped carriage, and a villainous habit of sticking their hands into their 
breeches pockets, gives them an ungainly and loutish look not to be 
described. I carefully scrutinized the congregation as they issued from 
the church, and passed the inn window at Coldingham. Thei'e was 
not a square-shouldered man among the whole ; and their walk was 
a sort of lengthened straddle, as if the object was to cross a space of 
ground with the fewest steps imaginable. Villainous example is the 
spoil of them. 1 met a handsome lad dawdling beside a cart ; he had 
physique for a grenadier ; but by a bent knee and stooped shoulder ap- 
peared scarce over medium height ; and had I followed, and not met 
him, I should have guessed him at sixty rather than seventeen. 

Every body who has visited a Connaught fair, will have been struck 
with the number of small, spare, ugly men that he encounters ; but 
still, like a French voltigeur, there is a springiness and ease of move- 
ment aboig them, which proves that stunted growth may still be com- 
bined with physical efficiency. Like highlanders, their motive powers 
are astonishing — and on the most trifling errand, a Connaught moun- 
taineer, will, as he calls it, " cut over " forty or fifly miles, and be 
back within the day. But go to a Tipperary gathering, and tliere you 
will meet a different race — handsome, tall, athletic. The skirts of the 
cota more are twisted in the bending of the left arm — the twig * carried 
horizontally in the right hand — every movement is loose — the foot is 
firmly planted — the head well thrown back — the chest finely expanded 
— the eye is bright and wandering — anxious to detect in the crowd a 
sweetheart or an enemy. The maniere of the Tipperary man is what 
in that land of Goshen is termed the " devil may care ;" and his best 
motto would be " celer et audax." Great is the competition for his 
person by rival recruiting parties. They make delicate advances ; 
and_ when he declines the line, a dragoon assails him. High induce- 
ments are held out on both sides : in the 118th they have nothing to do 
but clean their appointments, and the commanding officer, even to a 
drum-boy, is better than a bad stepfather : but the 47th Dragoon Guards 
has also much to recommend it ; for in that favoured corps, men are 
spared the fatigue of walking, and mounted at the government expense. 
He of the 118th, whispers in confidence, that the colonel of the 47th 
is the devil, and requires the men to polish the horseshoes ; while the 
trooper turns the attention of the Tipperary youth to the yellow facings 
of the 118th, and expresses his regret, that fever of the same colour is 
epidemic in that regiment, the deaths annually averaging 435. Be- 

* Cudgel. 



174 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

tween the gentility of the dragoons, and the parental attention he is 
certain to receive in the gallant 118th, " young Ireland " hesitates, 
until one or other of the candidates slips the talismanic shilling into his 
hand ; and, like Paddy Carey, " by the powers ! he's listed !" 

Some of the most extraordinary instances of longevity, with indi- 
vidual and family examples of supernatural strength, will be found in 
border annals. Cases of extreme duration of life are common on both 
banks of Tweed ; but those of gigantic strength, seem rather indigenous 
to Northumberland. By statistical returns in 1821, so imperfectly 
made, that at least a third of the population were omitted, this county, 
with its dependency, Berwick-upon-Tweed, were found to have then 
living, 156 persons between the ages of 80 and 90 years, and seven who 
had passed 100. It is but three or four years since James Stuart, gen- 
erally called "Jemmy Strang," died ; and he had been at Prestonpans 
in the forty-five, and also at Culloden with the Pretender. His 
eventful life closed at 117 years; and James Robertson nearly rivalled 
him by dying at 111. 

There is no county in the empire where fossil relics, occasionally 
discovered, indicate more frequently that a race, almost of Titan pro- 
portions, once existed ; and modern instances would overturn skepti- 
cism on the subject. William Carr, of Blythe, born in 1756, was a 
singular specimen of gigantic strength. When only 17 years of age, 
he was 6 ft. 3f inches in height, weighed sixteen stone, and could easily 
lift seven or eight cwt. While a youth he could throw a half-hundred 
weight, with a four-pound weight tied to it, the distance of |wenty-four 
feet, either behind or before him. On one occasion be went to Chester- 
le-Street, to try this feat against the noted Michael Downey, but the 
latter shrunk from the contest. "The bridge of Chester-le-Street," 
said Carr, in speaking of himself, " was full of people to see ' the great 
blacksmith.' I might then be about twenty-two stone weight." At 
thirty years of age, he was 6 ft. 4 inches in height, and weighed twenty- 
four stone. He was often employed in repairing the steam engines at 
Hartley, Plessey, and Bedlington, and has sustained this labour 132 
hours at a time ; and, after twelve hours' rest, stood 120 hours 
longer. Five seamen being unable to carry an anchor weighing half 
a ton, and a piece of cable, Carr, unassisted, carried it over the sands 
to his father's shop. When a loaded coal waggon chanced to slip off 
the rail, he would sometimes creep underneath, and lift it on again. 
He was invited to Seaton Delaval, to fight Big Ben — but the fistic, hero 
declined the combat, obsei'ving that he would rather receive a kick from 
a horse, than a blow from such a hand. On that occasion, Lord Delaval 
had his likeness taken in his working habit, which was afterwards re- 
moved to Gibside. The Lords Tyrconnel and Strathmore accompanied 
Mendoza, at his particular request, on a visit to. this modern Hercules. 
Like all men of extraordinary strength, he was remarkably good- 
natured ; but having knocked a Scotch lord off his horse for striking 
him with his whip at Morpeth races, he was long called by the name 
of that nobleman. He was an expert workman, and his harpoons, par- 
ticularly, were much celebrated. Though not a man of dissipated 
habits, yet his bacchanalian powers were most wonderful. One day he 



"■^^^^^^ 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 175 

went to Shields on business, drank eighth-four glasses of spirits, and re- 
lumed to Blythe sober. 

It is generally believed, that a superiority in stature and strength, 
is almost invariably accompanied by a marked inferiority of mental 
powers ; and that nature capriciously neutralizes the one gift, by with- 
holding the more valuable. Giants, and the wretched beings who, for 
diminutive proportions, or brutal obesity, are annually exhibited, are 
found to possess no intellect whatever. They breathe, and move, and 
have their being, die prematurely of old age, and so concludeth their 
useless history. Occasionally, however, Dame Nature is not so freak- 
ish ; ^nd, as in the case of Bruce, to immense physical powers she 
unites the highest order of mental energy. 

This may be observable in an individual ; but that such an union 
of powers, generally so little germane, should seem almost hereditary 
to a family, I believe was reserved for a Northumbrian one. 

In the village of Denwick, and the immediate vicinity to the baro- 
nial residence of the " proud Percys," a machinist was latterly resident. 
To the improvement of agricultural implements, his ingenuity was use- 
fully directed, and several valuable medals and prizes have attested the 
value of his inventions. " The short and simple annals " of his family 
will be found interesting ; for strength, stature, talent, and longevity 
appear to have been most extensively combined in John Common and 
his progenitors. 

His great-grandfather attained the immense age of 110 years, and 
left seven sons. One of these Titans, named Andrew, measured 
twenty-seven inches across the shoulders, and would carry to market a 
bole of peas, suspended at the end of a stick. Robert, another son, was 
a farm servant at Warkworth Barns ; and, having witnessed two men 
assail his master, he flew to the rescue, caught up an oifender under 
either arm, rushed with his double burden to the Coquet, and flung 
them into the water. At a sledge-throwing, the party threw the ham- 
mer towards the house, but Robert threw it over it. Matthew, a third 
of the family, to enormous strength united singular activity ; and, in 
the market of Alnwick, he frequently jumped backwards and forwards 
over a yoke of oxen. The least of this herculean house, was John's 
grandfather ; and he, though held in dwarfish estimation by the family, 
weighed fourteen stone. He left two sons. They were celebrated 
pugilists, and able machinists, and in erecting windmills, and steam 
and winnowing engines, they were held unrivalled. The younger per- 
formed skilfully on both the violin and bagpipes, the instruments being 
made by himself. One of them was flogged by his father for standing 
on his head upon the steeple of Shilbottle ; while another of the family, 
enacted a similar feat on the highest tower of Warkworth. 

Early in the reign of James I. Freestoneburn farm was in the occu- 
pation of one of this stalworth family ; whose cattle, through personal 
fear, the moss-troopers respected, though his neighbours could scarcely 
keep a cloot. John, the great-grandfather, died at 115 ; and another 
brother, named Peter, at the age of 132. Of the latter, an interesting 
anecdote is recorded. When casting flags on Hazon moor, a new pro- 
prietor rode up and demanded by what authority the old man took that 



176 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

liberty. " I have cast flags here," returned the senior, " for 100 years, 
and no man asked me why I did so until to-day." " Then," replied 
the gentleman, " Heaven forbid that I should interrupt you — cast on 
while you live." 

In a jest, while he lived a farm servant at Titlington, his master 
sent a recruiting party to arrest him while at work. But the joke had 
nearly ended tragically, for John attacked the assailants so furiously, 
that nothing but instant flight saved them. To the last, his faculties 
remained unimpaired ; and a few days before he died, from his death- 
bed he read a paper that was brought in and pasted on the wall. 

Instances of individual strength or longevity are numerous ; but that 
both, combined with superior ingenuity, should descend like heirlooms 
through four generations, is, I believe, unknown in human history, ex- 
cepting in the solitary case of this marvellously gifted family. 

That the Borderers possessed, and still maintain, a decided physical 
superiority over their southern neighbours, may be correctly ascribed 
to their local position, their pursuits, and their pastimes. Up even to 
the commencement of the last century, 

" War was the Borderer's game " — 

robbery a genteel profession — and the best lifter was estimated to be the 
best man. The evil renown, then held in highest reputation, could only be 
attained by the commission of felony, with a reckless audacity that taxed 
animal powers to their uttermost. The head to plan were useless, without 
the heart to execute. In his forays, the moss-trooper must breast the flood- 
ed river, climb the Alpine height, tread the pathless waste — for fleet as 
his footsteps were, probably fleeter were behind him — and if flight fail- 
ed, " the hand must keep the head." Were he of a rarer order in those 
felonious times, and instead of reiving* sheep applied himself to rear 
them, his mountain pursuits encouraged a free development of strength, 
action, and endurance. Did he belong to another class, and was neither 
moss-trooper nor mountaineer, still his dangerous locality was open to 
incessant aggression, and feudal tenure required from him military 
service. He must arm at the appearance of an inroad ; and hence the 
pastimes then in use were naturally martial in their character. 

The ancient games, however, which the Borderers delighted in, with 
the progress of civilization sank rapidly into disuetude — still lingering- 
much longer on the southern banks of Tweed than on the northern. 
It would be curious to fancy the effect which customs, generally preva- 
lent within the memory of middle-aged persons, would now produce on 
i" nerves polite." The declines of some of these we must regret ; but 
we freely confess and opine, that others are more honoured in the breach 
than the observance. 

Putting aside bundling,-|- which we utterly condemn, and the half^ 

* Stealing. 

t Until my recent sojourn on the borders, in the innocency of my heart 1 fancied 
that bundhng was confined to Wales. A few years since, I was on a visit in Here- 
fordshire, to an antiquated commander, who had selected that sweet county as the one 
in which to rest a wooden leg, and enjoy his " otium cum dignitate." He had occa- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. I77 

yearly hirings,* which must be acknowledged any thing but correct, an 
historian's description of a soiree dansante on the border, will be found, 
in many particulars, to differ in etiquette from that observed at Al- 
mack's. 

" The youth," says Mackenzie, '•' usually sits with his arm around 
the girl's waist ; and if the room be much crowded, the young women 
not unfrequently sit on the knees of their partners. Towards the close 
of the entertainment, the fiddler, at the end of every dance, gives a shrill 
skreak with his instrument." This is the signal for a general and au- 
dible oscultation ; " and were a youth to neglect the performance of 
this established ceremony, his mistress would consider herself affronted, 
and he would be generally condemned for want of gallantry." 

To a later period than in the counties south and north, here min- 
strelsy met encouragement ; and Scott's beautiful poem faithfully de- 
scribes its decline and fall. These wanderers were always welcome in 
hall and tower. " They exerted all the methods that fancy, frolic, and 
licentiousness had invented, to interest the feelings and stimulate the ■ 
liberality of the different classes of society. Their topics being the most 
popular of the day, those who visited this country would sing of battle, 
war, and rapine, interspersed with legends, love songs, and bacchana- 
lian airs. As the general mind improved, the minstrel became less val- 
ued and more degenerate, until at last he was proscribed as a useless 
and corrupting vagabond." f 

An old pui-itan remarked, that " when a. man strung a fiddle, the 
devil was indubitably at his elbow," The Northumbrians, it would 
appear, despise his Satanic majesty, for here the wandering artiste is 
fearlessly received. He is presented at the proper seasons with his 
bowl of seed corn and his shock of wool ; plays, in return, while the 
company have a kick in them ; and when the ball concludes, he winds 
up — for the musician is also a raconteur — with some desperate ballad, 
in length and subject akin to Chevy Chase ; or a love story, in which 

sion to replace a discharged servant, and on the day that I arrived, a very smart spi- 
der-brusher presented herself and her credentials. 

" Humph !" growled old Hannibal, as he cast his eyes over the young lady's dis- 
charges. " The last place you lived in was Mrs. 'b. I know her ; she's a 

kind and proper person. Why did you leave her V 

" Indeed, sir," returned the Welsh demoiselle, dropping a courtesy, " she was, as 
you say, a very kind lady." 

" Then why the devil did you leave her — eh 1" 

" I had no fault to find in the world, but one." 

" And what was that — umph V 

" She put me to sleep in a back room." 

" And could you not sleep as well in a back room as a front one 1" inquired the 
general. 

" Certainly, sir ; but the height of the wall behind prevented niy sweetheart from 
throwing sand against the window ; and, of course, I could not hear and let him in !" 

* The market being over, the fiddlers take their seats close to the window in pub- 
lic houses ; the girls begin to file off and gently pace the streets, with a view of gain- 
ing admirers ; while the young men, with equally innocent designs, follow after, and 
having eyed the lasses, pick up each a sweetheart, whom they conduct to a dancing 
room, and treat with punch, ale, or hot ale mixed with brandy." — View of Northum- 
berland. 

t Ritson. 

12 



X78 HILL-SIDE A?vD BORDER SKETCHES. 



the lady dies of consumption, and the gentleman takes to soldiering in 
despair, and gets a quietus from a cannon hall. 

The ceremonies which are incident to social society were equally 
marked, fifty years ago, with coarseness and hospitality. At a wedding 
there was a rush made at the bride — and her garters were pulled off 
in the church, sans cir^monie, by the first youth who could lay hold of 
her. A drink at the next public-house succeeded. Then there was a 
race home, to win " the kail " — feasting, dancing, and, as the finale, 
the throwing of the stocking. 

At those interesting periods when ladies present pledges of affection, 
all who came to visit were accommodated with bread, cheese, and 
whiskey ; and, if a popular tradition may be expedited, at Newcastle, a 
ghost* always accompanied the sage-femme. At christenings this use- 
ful functionary — not the ghost, but the midwife — leads the procession, 
bestows bread and cheese on the first person she meets, and receives a 
present for her late services from the sponsors. 

The c^rhnonial attendant on a death-bed are, in many points, simi- 
lar to those still observed in Ireland. Lighted candles and a plate of 
salt are used. The looking-glass is covered — the fire put out — and the 
coffin left unscrewed until the hour of interment. Should an unfortu- 
nate dog or cat cross the body, it is put to death ; and the lyke-wake is 
attended by the old people during day, while the young people take the 
night duty. In Ireland, too confiding woman frequently dates her 
" misfortune " to " returning from the corpse-house ;" and offences, 
contra honos mores, were so common in Northumberland in " lang-syne," 
that in the list of crimes curseable with bell, book, and candle, this de- 
linquency was included. 

To the funeral, people are specially invited ;t refreshments, spirits, 
and tobacco, are given liberally ; and the intimate friends of the de- 
ceased are formally entertain€)d at supper. In dress and demeanour 
ihe conduct of all present is most decorous. All who follow the body 
to the grave are attired in decent mourning. The funeral appointments 
of the married are sable altogether, but those of the unwedded are 
trimmed with white ; and young females, or women who die in child- 
birth, are attended by girls dressed in white, some of whom precede 
the coffin, while others support the pall. 

Nothing can be more imposing than a soldier's funeral — but to see 
the virgin flower consigned to the earth it sprang from, even before its 
dawning beauty had reached the expansion of maturity : cold indeed 
must the heart be on which that spectacle will be exhibited in vain ! 

* " This comical ghost, or, as they pronounce it, guest, in the patois of the coun- 
try, appeared in the shape of a mastiff dog, with large saucer eyes. It generally ac- 
companied the midwife when going at night to discharge her office. When they 
parted at the door, it uttered a loud laugh when the event was to terminate favourably ; 
but when otherwise, it departed with the most horrid bowlings." — Mackenzie. 

t Formerly this invitation was given by the bellman ; and, in his Popular Anti- 
quities, Brand gives the form — " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord ! Joseph 
Dixon is departed, — son of Christopher Dixon that was. Company is expected to- 
morrow at five o'clock, and at six he is to be buried. For him, and for all faithful 
people, give God most hearty thanks !" 



m 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. ^79 



^ Ccgcnlr of "tl)c Jifteen. 

It was sunset on the evening of the 5th of October, of the year of 
our Lord 1715, when two sportsmen, who had been shooting grouse 
upon the Cheviots, issued from one of the gorges which enter this fine 
pastoral range from the lowlands, and took the public road, — if that 
term could be applied to a rough and stony causeway, which lost itself 
every now and then in grass-land, and on whose surface deep wheel- 
tracks only indicated that this was the route over which wayfarers 
should pass. Two attendants, laden with game bags, and followed by 
half-a-dozen setting dogs, kept at a respectful distance behind their 
masters, who were apparently engaged in serious conversation ; and 
although the dress of the latter was extremely plain, and merely such 
as is commonly adopted for sylvan sport, still the air and bearing of the 
strangers announced them to be men of superior caste. 

" We are near the hostelrie, methinks," said the older of the two, 
" I see a smoke curling above the birch trees in yonder hollow. Go 
forward, Sandy, and while Angus secures the dogs, see that our sup- 
per be got ready, — and hark ye ! if there be strangers in the change- 
house, observe them sharply, and apprise us ere we enter." 

The order was instantly obeyed ; and the attendants pushed for- 
ward along the sward-road at a quick pace, leaving their masters to 
follow them more leisurely. 

Fashion produces alterations in every thing, and even to the cos- 
tume of a grouse-shooter. The dress of both gentlemen was made from 
cloth roughly woven by some country loom, and dyed a russet brown — 
with chamois-skin leggings, and caps of plain colours and materials. 
No ornament distinguished them from their attendants, excepting that 
the latter wore a sprig of bog myrtle in the side of the cap, and their 
masters an eagle feather. Their field accoutrements at that period, 
however, would have at a glance told that they were no ordinary sports- 
men : for each carried a long-barrelled Spanish fowling-piece, of beauti- 
ful workmanship, a moorsing-horn mounted richly in silver, and the 
short couteau de chasse, formerly an appurtenance for deer-stalking, but 
still retained through motives of personal security. 

* At Fourstones, and at a short distance from the village of Warden, on the estate 
of the Hospital of Greenwich, there is a township so named, from four hollowed stones 
marking its corner boundaries. One of these in " the Fifteen " was turned to curious 
account. From a superstitious belief that these relics of antiquity were a favourite 
haunt of the gentle folk, none of the peasantry would venture near them after dark, for 
fear of encountering the fairies. Profiting by this superstition, the Jacobite families 
used one of them as a safe and convenient post-office, at a time when the mainten- 
ance of a correspondence was precarious and dangerous. The stone had a square re- 
cess, and a rude cover in its centre ; and in the twilight^a boy dressed in green came 
regularly there, removed the letters he found in waiting for him, and deposited such 
others as he wished to forward. By this means chiefly, the Earl of Derwentwater cor- 
responded with the rebel leaders ; and though these post-carrying sprites were fre- 
quently seen, none presumed to watch their movements, as they supposed them beings 
of another world. 

From this tradition, and a legend connected with the house of Maxwell, this story 
has its origin. 



\ 



ISO HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 



" George Maxwell, thou art marvellously changed ; a twelvemonth 
back, of all thy hot-blooded name, I reckoned thee the hottest ; one 
might have fancied, had you been lukewarm to our exiled king, 
that thy recent visit to Saint Germain's would have roused thee into 
action; and lo ! you come back cold as an icicle to the good cause." 

*' And have 1 not reason to lose heart, James RatclifTe ?" returned 
the person thus addressed. " What found I in France ? — A court, 
beggarly in every thing but intrigue, but rich in that, as they say Po- 
tosi is in metals ; — a prince, surrounded by outcasts and vagabonds ; 
no master-spirit to direct his counsels, which every day fluctuated as 
the weathercock itself; — the rabble of pennyless adventurers who 
formed this precious cabinet recalling to memory the occupants of the 
cave in Scripture ; to wit, all that were in debt and all that were in 
danger ; — that false fugitive, Bolingbroke, at the political helm, aided 
and assisted by a dozen gentlewomen, of approved loyalty and easy 
virtue." 

"Nay, George, some private cause must have jaundiced you be- 
sides. Say, are not the means for a descent at last completed ?" 

*' Yes," returned Maxwell, with an ironical smile ; " when arms 
are bought, and money borrowed, and a few other trifling matters of 
that kind are first arranged, and Mrs. Trant, with the rest of the female 
council, determine the place of landing, and the plan of the cam- 
paign—" 

" Mark my words, George ; the king will regain his crown or 
perish." 

" And mark mine, Derwentwater ; the first he'll not effect, and the 
last he'll do by proxy — leaving to such fools as thou and I the payment 
of the penalty. But here comes Angus. What news ?" 

" The hostelrie, so please you, is quiet ; supper is being prepared ; 
the table spread in the private chamber ; and ere I left the house, the 
grouse were hissing on the brander." 

" And are there no guests, Angus, already there before us ?" 

" None, my Lord, now ; there have been two, but they had left the 
kitchen before I entered, and, as the hostess mentioned, were bridling 
in the stable, to resume their journey northward." 

" Well, we won't attempt to interrupt their journey ; the fewer 
acquaintances we make anew the better. Go, Angus ; ere thy birds 
be brandered we will be with you, and I promise thee — an thou provide 
the cheer — I'll undertake to do it justice. Egad ! George, these 
stirring times appear to mend one's appetite." 

A heavy sigh escaped young Maxwell. 

" Why, in the foul thief's name, have they bewitched ye when 
across the seas ?" exclaimed his lighter-hearted companion. " An a 
body speaks to thee ^ent politics, you groan like a crop-ear in a 
conventicle ; and even the sure prospect of a good supper and a 
cheerful cup cannot exhilarate thy sluggish spirits. Art thou really 
George Maxwell in the flesh, or some canting roundhead who has 
assumed his outer man ? Rouse thee, George, or, by the mass, I'll 
forswear thy gloomy company." 

" Would that I could, but—" 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. Igl 

" Nay, I will save thee trouble, and tell the remainder of tlie tale. 
No prince of darkness has got thee in his clutches, but, of a verity, a 
sweet wench, and one of the faithful too, in the forni of Rosalie 
Fairfax." 

Maxwell started. 

" Come, George, be open with thy friend. Does not yonder 
flickering light, which sparkles through the wood upon the hill, recall 
the lady who wastes youth and beauty there in drawling out tuneless 
psalms, or listening to what the old whig, her father, calls ' an exercise' 
— to wit, perverted Scripture, and heresy by wholesale ?" 

The youth remained silent for a minute ; then, as if he had taken a 
sudden determination, he turned sharply round, seized his companion's 
hand, and exclaimed — 

" Yes, James, thy arrow has reached the mark, and I vvill tell thee 
all. I dare not confide my story, even to my own brother — for 
Nithsdale would listen with impatience, and his proud dame, thy sister, 
— forgive me, for thou know'st her temper as well as I, — mayhap 
would turn from me in contempt, and tell me, as the highland chief 
said in lang syne, that ' Nithsdale blood would not mingle with 
Cameronian puddle in a basin.' But see ! Angus comes on at speed ; 
what devil's in the wind now ?" 

" My'Lord," said the attendant, " the travellers I notified to your 
honour, have already suddenly changed their intention of proceeding, 
unbridled their horses, and swear they'll sup with ye." 

" To which oath, I beg leave to put in a counter affidavit," replied 
young Maxwell, laughing. " What sort • of persons may these 
condescending gentlemen look like ?" 

" Any but honest ones," was the reply. " They are better horsed, 
and dressed, and armed, than appearances would warrant." 

"Highwaymen mayhap." 

" No, good my Lord ; I would take them for worse characters. 
They look, methinks, like officers of justice." 

" Par nobile," returned Maxwell ;" no matter to which of these 
honourable orders they appertain, they sup not with us. Here, place 
these pieces in our chamber," and he' handed his gun to the attendant, 
an example followed by his friend. " On, Angus, and lay supper on 
the board. We'll after thee. Now, James, is not this a strange 
impertinence ?" 

" Under which, as I fancy, more lies concealed than we at present 
know," replied the earl. 

" Well, the mystery shall soon be ended. We must be cautious ; 
sink name and title ; and, in proof of perfect equality, I'll thus take 
precedency of the peerage." 

So saying, Maxwell stooped his head, and* entered the kitchen of 
the hostelrie, followed closely by his friend. Within there was evident 
confusion, for the host waa protesting against invaded rights, which, 
however, the strangers seemed determined to maintain. Possession is said, 
in legal disputes, to be a very important advantage, and the intruders 
had secured it ; for both were seated in the private chamber — while the 



182 KILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

landlord urged his remonstrances through the open doorway, which 
communicated between that room and the kitchen. 

" I pray ye, fair masters, to leave the chamber ; it is bespoke, as I 
forewarned ye. The honourable gentlemen will be here anon." 

" Nay, then," returned a voice from within, "you may just notify 
that there are honourable gentlemen here already." 

" An they be hot Borderers, as I guess them, they will not brook it 
quietly," pursued the host. 

" Brook it or not, they must bear it," said the second 

" I warn ye in time," continued the alarmed landlord, as he noticed 
the flushed cheek of the younger guest, and the contracting brows of 
the attendants ; who, during the conversation, had armed themselves 
with the birding-pieces. " I warn ye against the upshot." 

" And I warn thee to lose no time in serving the muirfowl with all 
diligent speed and full decorum, as beseemeth an attentive host," return- 
ed the intruder. "I have not ate a heathcock, ay, marry, not for a 
twelvemonth." 

" And if thou dost not dispute title for the bones with the collies at 
the ingle-fire, I have a shrewd guess thou wilt have the same tale to tell 
to-morrow," replied a voice from without ; and the next moment George 
Maxwell stooped his tall person beneath the low doorway, and confront- 
ed the intruders. Lifting a riding-rod from the settle, the flery youth 
exclaimed, as he struck the occupant of the next stool severely across 
the shoulders, 

" Sittest thou, fellow, in my presence ? Up, knave, or I'll lift 
thee by the ears ! " 

True had been the admonition of the host, when he warned the 
intruders against the consequences which woujd be attendant upon an 
invasion of the state chamber. Neither of the strangers abode a second 
order, but sprang upon their legs, and each produced a pistol, while 
two long Spanish barrels, levelled from the open doorway, gave mute, 
but certain information that fire-arms would be employed on both sides, 
were it found necessary. Maxwell was as prompt to continue the fray 
as to commence it ; for, with the slight stick he had already applied to 
the back of one of the intruder^, he struck the knuckles of his compa- 
nion so sharply, that the weapon dropped from his grasp, and exploded 
in the fall. This seemed the signal for a general onslaught — and, in a 
few moments, the strangers were overpowered, disarmed, and pinioned. 

The captors, for the first time, had leisure to examine the persons 
of the prisoners. One was a hale, square-built, vulgar style of man, 
bordering upon fifty. He might have been a catchpole, a butcher, or a 
bruiser, for his exterior was coarse enough for any of these professions. 
He was, of the twain, evidently the man of action — and had he not been 
deprived of his weapon by an unexpected blow, the chances were strong 
.hat he would not have been backward in using it promptly. The other 
was younger, slighter, and a person of pasier carriage and address, 
attired with better discretion, and, if the expression of the features might 
be trusted, the reverse of his companion altogether. One had a bold, 
bull-dog look about him ; the other, the sneaking cunning of a lurcher, 



n\ 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 183 

who will prick the prey out, but recoil from grappling wijh the 
quarry. 

"Who are ye, fellows?" exclaimed Maxwell, as he scanned the 
prisoners' faces. 

" Those," said the rougher of the two, " who will make you curse 
the day you meddled with or marred their errand." 

" What thriftless devil are ye in pursuit of? What wretched debtor 
are ye engaged to drag from a happy home, to rot for usury to some 
Jew, or increase the claims of the informer against the state ? In one 
brief word, what devil's errand drove ye hither? " 

" An you call a royal commission by that name — against superior 
force, and under constraint, we cannot uphold the contrary," returned 
the slighter of the two. 

The younger sportsman darted an intelligent glance at his companion. 

" Royal commission, forsooth ! By Heaven, James, 'twere well to 
set these vagabonds in the stocks till daylight. Royal com " 

" Ay," shouted the stout prisoner, as carried away by passion, he 
plucked a sealed packet from his breast. " Here is our authority," 
and he held the parchment with a look of triumph towards young 
Maxwell. 

" Pish !" said the latter contemptuously, and snatching the document 
from the stranger's grasp — 

" Break not one seal," exclaimed a second prisoner. " I warn you 
that the penalty wil] be high treason." 

" Thou cogging knave !" continued the youth unalarmed ; " impose 
thy cock-a-bull stories upon us ! Wax, with your leave, as the play- 
man saith ;" and, ere the words had passed his lips, the silk and seals, 
by which the packet had been secured, were broken. 

" By the true Lord !" exclaimed the stouter stranger, " an' this be 
not treason, I marvel what the word means." 

" I'faith [ treason — and that indubitably," returned Maxwell. " Lis- 
ten, James : here come these false knaves forging the royal signature 
to arrest divers of the best and truest subjects a king could own. /m- 
primis — ' James, earl of Derwentwater,' know you that trusty noble ?" 

" I have seen him. What ! arrest him ? No — no," said the earl 
with a smile. 

" Read, and be satisfied ;" and he flung a parchment scroll across 
the table, which his companion proceeded to detail aloud. " And lo 
ye! here," he exclaimed, " Wot ye who comes next? I'faith, none 
less than William, earl of Nithsdale !" 

" Ay — by'r lady ! and I would not marvel that the young roue, the 
Master, followed his noble brother," observed the younger shooter. 

" Know you him ?" inquired the stdut stranger, eagerly. 

" Know him ? ay, full well ; and upon my conscience, as a Chris- 
tian man, I can say but little in his favour," replied the sportsman. 

" Would that we could byt meet him," was the reply. 

" You must seek him, as I guess, in France. Report has it, that 
George Maxwell has gone thither." 

" Ay — right enough : he did go there, but he is home again, — and 
that we have for cei'tain." . 



184 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" Indeed, I did not know that news before. Methinks if he were 
known to have been at the king's — gramercy ! — I mean the chevalier's 
court, he risks some peril by returning." 

" More than he dreams of," said the slighter stranger. " The hazel 
eyes of the prettiest puritan in wide Northumberland form, it is said, 
the loadstar of attraction. But he might have tarried at the Pretender's 
court for all the advantage this journe^ will boot. Rosalie is affianced 
to another ; and Hugh de Bolum will not stand woman's folly. As to 
young Maxwell " 

" I should fancy him a troublesome rival," observed the younger 
sportsman. " Bolum — let me see — ay — is he not the man who spent 
years upon the Spanish main ; came back laden with ingots to the 
hatches ; bought every estate which unthrift or attaint in the north had 
rendered marketable ; and now intends to found a family, and marry 
the fair Fairfax ? Is it not also whispered, that, before politics sepa- 
rated them, the Nithsdale family and the old puritan were friends ; ay, 
and that early passages of love took place with mutual consent, be- 
tween George Maxwell and the sweet Rosalie ? How will that proud 
house brook what they will assuredly esteem an insult ?" 

" Why, I should fancy with Christian patience." 

" But the young Maxwell is reputed hot of temper. Will he quietly 
permit the son of a Morpeth flesher to deprive him of his lady-love ? 
Men say the Master of Nithsdale is quicker with rapier than with ar- 
gument, and ready with dirk and pistol." 

" As thou, my friend — and confound thee for it ! — art in breaking 
the knuckles of an honest man with his own riding wand. But are we 
to sit here all night, like chickens trussed for roasting ?" and he nodded 
at the pinioned arms of himself and comrade. 

" No, certainly. Here, Angus, remove these cords. 'Twas but a 
jest after all. Send our supper in ; and, harkye, the brander's on the 
coals, and there are a score of birdies in the game bag. Go, gentle- 
men, you're welcome to the whole. My companion and I expect a 
friend on business, and need this chamber for our private uses." 



PART II. 

Fully satisfied at the termination of an affair, which, commencing 
in an affray, bade fair to end in amicable relations, right joyfully the 
intrusionists resigned possession of a chamber, which had only pro- 
duced bruised bones, no supper, and a temporary captivity ; and in a 
minute or two, they were overheard in high delight without, making 
amends for recent disappointment, and aiding and assisting in culinary 
operations. 

" So," said the Master with a sigh, "the game is up, as far as con- 
cealment or delay were wanted. No' French descent ; no movement 
in the highlands ; the government alarmed ; warrants already out ; in 
a word, the affair looks desperate. Before a flint in snapped, the con- 
spiracy is strangled ; and in detail, the Elector will annihilate the ad- 
herents of the exiled family — and on highland and lowland enemies his 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 185 

vengeance will fall heavily alike. Had the plot not prematurely 
exploded ; and succours arrived ; the highlands armed ; and we had 
risen in force upon the borders, we might have, at least, had the satis- 
faction of dying sword in hand, and not been tucked up like mangey 

hounds ; but now there is " 

" But one chance of success, and one course to follow," exclaimed 
Lord Derwentwater, interrupting him. 

" To put the sea between us, an angry monarch, and his alarmed 
minister ? So far as I am concerned — never ! By Heaven ! though 
the block were before the door, and the headsman ready, I would not 
quit England again, or yield my claim to Rosalie Fairfax, but withlife." 
" Proclaim the king at once," cried the earl passionately. 
" That may be done readily, and at the next market cross. But can 
we maintain his rights ? Pshaw ! the thing would be a mere farce." 
" Issue at once a bold manifesto." 

" Which," returned the Master with a smile, " will be burned by 
the common hangmen before the ink is dry. But, hark ! heard ye not 
a gentle tap against the casement ? Ere now, methinks, our fairy 
messenger should have appeared." 

Both of the conspirators listened with deep attention, and, a second 
time, a finger gently struck the pane. The earl rose, unclosed the 
casement, and a slight figure, closely muffled in a shepherd's plaid, 
stepped into the .apartment. 

" Bolt the door, George ; and now, my elfin courier, what tidings 
hast thou for me from fairy-land ?" 

" You, my lord, will esteem them unfortunate, while I would hold 
them the reverse ; for the useless effusion of blood, and the horrors of 
civil war, may now be happily averted." 

" I cannot hear thee distinctly, boy. Throw thy mantle off. What 
tidings bear ye ? Where are the letters ?" 

" Letters I have none, my lord. When approaching the altar to 
deposite one for another, I heard the tramp of horses, and hid me in 
the brushwood. Presently three armed riders passed, and almost stirred 
the bushes which concealed me. One, on the holster cases before 
his saddle, held a boy dressed fancifully in green, who was weeping 
piteously. 

" ' Nay, pretty sprite,' exclaimed the man who rode beside the little 
captive ; ' God's mercy ! thou hast not to fear, unless the ferule of the 
pedagogue ; and ere the sun rise to-morrow, I promise that thy patrons 
shall be with thee. James Ratcliffe and young Maxwell are not a 
mile's distance at this moment, and though neither know the other, is it 
not marvellously comical^ that a couple of blood-hounds laid upon their 
track, are lodged in the same hostelrie.' Such were his words, my 
lord — and I came hither, at personal risk, to tell thee that thy plot is 
bewrayed; an thou tak'st not to hiding without delay, ere cock-crow 
thou wilt be captive." 

" Never will I skulk like a craven, and seek safety in concealment," 
exclaimed the rash nobleman, " were I to take the field attended by 
none but my family retainers, and every whig in Britain in arms to 
support the usurper ; still, these are sorry tidings, George." 



186 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" James Ratcliffe, listen to me ; and let me implore you also to 
listen patiently. From the hour I saw the wretched king, whose rights 
I would perish, worthless as he is, to establish — nay bear with me — 
time presses — and at least hear me calmly out — I knew that it were 
madness to expect, what nothing but a miracle could achieve ; and 
therefore, the news this boy brings is only what I have long expected. 
To raise the fallen standard with a few scores of gentlemen, and as 
many liundred boors, would subject those who did so, and justly so, to 
the charge of lunacy. Thou art wedded, James, — thy course of love 
runs ^smooth, — when beauty and virtue are spoken of, men name the 
lady of Lord Derwentwater — thy marriage bed is blessed with issue ; — 
thy estates, the noblest in the riding — all that makes life happy are 
thine already ; rank, wealth, and love ! and would you madly cast 
away such blessings ?" 

" And what wouldst thou have me do ? inquired the earl, hastily. 

" Bend to the storm, and let its fury pass. Commit no idle act of 
overt treason ; and dream not to restore a doomed dynasty, or place a 
crown upon a head, which never was ordained by Heaven to bear the 
badge of royalty." 

" Do I dream ? or are my ears cheating me ? and art thou, in sooth, 
George Maxwell ?" 

" Him am I indeed, James — and the words you have heard are his." 

" Well, by mine honour, I wanted this confirmation," observed the 
Earl scornfully, " and were I to follow his honourable advice, the mas- 
ter of Nithsdale would of course gladden my vagabond life in moor and 
mountain with his company, until the Elector had plundered my estates 
to his heart's content, and then, might graciously permit the beggared 
outcast to skulk into daylight from his concealment." 

" No, James," said the young sportsman, with a deep sigh, " my 
fates are different from thine, and so shall be my course of action. 
The hand of woman will never at God's altar be pledged to me. The 
voice of lisping infancy shall never call me father. 1 am one without 
earthly fortune — that matters not — but I am one also, without earthly 
hope. I loved — let it pass ; I worshipped, and as I thought, had won. 
Pshaw ! 'twas a mere chimera. What am I ? a heartless, hopeless 
man, in existence of no more value than the driftweed that idly passes 
the bark on ocean, floating on the surface, without an object, and with- 
out a use." 

" Nay, George, forgive me if I spoke rashly. There is not a par- 
ticle but genuine metal in thee ; and what course of action think ye of 
pursuing ?" 

" Raise the standard of the house of Stuart ere the sun touches the 
meridian to-morrow — and at the next cross, proclaim the rightful king !" 

" A true Maxwell, by our lady ! Yes, George, together we will " — 

" Not together, Derwentwater," returned Maxwell, interupting the 
earl, " not together, no — no — no — I want to find, what you should most 
avoid — the quiet of a " 

" Home ! Is not Caerlavarock — is not Bilston open to thee, George ? 
What want ye beyond these ?" 

" A grave, James. But let me but dream a little. Twelve years 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 187 

ago — ay, just half a life — the property of a drunken laird was sold ; 
and one who had thriven by his own, and by a father's industry, be- 
came possessor. He was a widower, but not childless — he had a 
daughter " — 

The Master paused — and a sigh too deep to be repressed escaped 
the boy, who appeared an attentive listener. 

" Sit down, kind youth !" exclaimed the earl, " thou art weary. 
Ho ! Angus, unclose the door. Another stoup of wine, and fetch the 
boy a tankard." 

But the youth waved his arm, and declined it — " Well, rest thee, 
an ihou art too young to drink, and we'll despatch thee presently. Go 
on, George — although I guess the sequel." 

" Rosalie Fairfax was two years younger than I, and my dear 
mother — Heaven rest her soul ! — fancied and loved her as a daughter. 
The times were still unsettled — and though we were far from being 
countenanced by favour from the court, we were too powerful to be idly 
treated- by the civil or military authorities of the house of Hanover ; 
and need I say, that over a considerable section, secretly attached to 
the family of Stuart, our influence was predominant ? . From the 
peculiar locality of Mr. Fairfax's new possessions — lying as they did 
immediately beside the border clans — he would have been necessarily 
exposed to continued annoyances ; nay, indeed, had not my father pro- 
tected him, I doubt whether he could have resided on his own estate. 
But strange as it may appear, the rebel then could openly protect the 
royalist ! 

I need not tell thee what Rosalie Fairfax was when a child, for thou 
hast seen her beauty matured at womanhood. She was, I might almost 
say, the object of boyish love. My passion grew with my years — and 
never for a moment did that heart she reigned over, wander from the 
idol it had enshrined. Rosalie ! thou wert my first love ; Rosalie, thou 
shalt be my last one !" 

The words appeared choking him — and the concluding sentence, 
though audible, had dropped almost to a whisper. The boy's sobs 
were beyond control — and the convulsive heavings of his plaid betrayed 
feelings wrought up almost to agony. 

" iBy heavens ! George, this poor youth must have a kindly heart — 
I never saw one that bestowed more sympathy on a stranger. Boy, we 
talk of what thou know'st not yet — ay, marry, and if you would be 
advised by me, know as little hereafter of Dan Cupid as you can con- 
veniently. Well, George, proceed." 

" My tale will be ended in a few words. Times gradually altered. 
The old Queen died, and that was the signal for fresh party intrigues 
— the forerunner of political convulsions. Gradually, as my family 
influence had become less potent and less necessary to him, the inti- 
macy between Mr. Fairfax and the house of Caerlavarock abated ; for 
as he increased in wealth and lands, his puritan temper appeared to 
sour as his earthly estate improved. A wealthy neighbour can soon 
find allies if he need them ; and Mr. Fairfax did not seek such long in 
vain. Leagued with the covenanting gentry, who, fostered by the gov- 
ernment, and sustained by their adherents in every part of Britain, had 



188 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

now become, as you know, a party here more than able to support the 
footings which, from time to time, they had gamed, a sh'ght pretext was 
quite sufficient to end friendly relations between my brother, and the 
father of her who possessed my heart. Madly I heard the quarrel 
spoken of — flew in despair to Mr. Fairfax, and asked his daughter's 
hand — when, after a puritanic discourse on creeds, and callings, and 
backslidings, and Heaven knows what whiggery beside, I was told that 
disparity in fortune might have been overlooked, but difference in faith 
was insuperable. I strove to reason — but Mr. Fairfax would only 
bandy texts — I tried to touch his feelings, but the nether millstone was 
not harder." 

" But why waste words upon a stiff-necked covenanter ? Had I 
been in thy place, George, I would have essayed more malleable metal, 
and proved whether the fair Rosalie was not formed of softer materials 
than the crop-eared knave her father." 

"Hast thou ever heard, James," returned young Maxwell, "that a 
castaway on ocean did not clutch even at a chip, had it happened to 
float past the floundering wretch ? Yes — I asked an interview, and it 
was granted." 

" The result, George ? — I'm impatient." 

" She owned that I held her love, but added that her father pos- 
sessed her duty." 

" And, in a word, George — she discarded you with a text or two." 

" 'Twere painful to detail what passed ; and you may smile when 
I tell you, that when I tore myself from Rosalie Fairfax, and pressed a 
parting kiss on lips which did not decline it, I left her, convinced that 
earth did not hold her fellow. Mine she never can be — for, without 
one spark of superstition, I see my fate distinctly pencilled out, as I do 
thy features in yon small mirror. When I am gone — but something 
tells me, James Ratcliffe, that our destinies shall be the same — I would 
have asked thee to have told her — that, whether life parted on the scaf- 
fold, or, more happily, upon the battle-field, my last prayer implored 
mercy for myself — happiness for her." 

" Hush ! hark ! What sounds are these ?" exclaimed the earl. 

" Horsemen, and at speed, my lord," exclaimed the alarmed boy. 

" Betrayed !" roared the earl. " George, thou hast ever thy wits 
about thee, what's our best course ?" 

"Up with the casement — ^jump out, sword in hand — trust to fortune 
for escape, or die as men should." 

Before the sentence was finished. Lord Derwentwater had flung the 
lattice open, and the blades of both the Jacobites glittered in the moon- 
light, which now had come out most brilliantly. The rush of horses 
over a road, half turf, half pebbles, grew louder; while the bolted door 
was violently struck against, and a voice without, in which the coarse 
tones of one of the intruders so recently expelled, were easily recog- 
nised, exclaimed — 

" James, Earl of Derwentwater, George, Master of Nithsdale, I 
call upon ye, as true men, to surrender ; I bear the king's warrant for 
your apprenension." 

" Drive a bullet through that door, my lord ; 'twill, mayhap, silence 



n 



■% 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES, Jgg 

that noisy rogue ; and the more confusion, the better chances of escape 
for us." 

" Oh, no ! for pity's sake, no blood !" exclaimed the boy, catching 
the master round the knees, and then sinking to the floor, as the snow- 
wreath slides from the precipice. 

During this brief period, the leading file of horsemen had reined up 
before the door — while a loud voice directed the- remainder to surround 
the house. 

" What, ho ! knave, rascal, host, unclose thy door, or I'll beat it in. 
Where be two noble gentlemen, thy guests, tracked hither by a brace 
of two-legged bloodhounds ?" • 

" The noble gentlemen, my dear Foster, are here," exclaimed Der- 
wentwater, with a laugh. " The quarry at bay for the present, and 
the bloodhounds at the door." 

" Saints and angels ! are ye safe, my Lord ? We doubted, from 
report, whether we could have succoured you in time. Lights ! We'll 
halt an hour or two to feed," he said to his attendants, and then con- 
tinued, " I'll have thee, noble Ratclifle, in a minute by the hand." 

" Nay, pause, general ; there are two loyal gentlemen with a royal 
warrant in the passage." 

" For whose accommodation there is a most convenient ash-tree ; 
and, no matter how low the larder may prove in this commodious 
hostelrie, I'll undertake the stable lacks not a spare halter, and hath 
more hemp than corn." 

In another minote a torch, with which the party came provided, 
was lighted, the door opened, and the siege formally raised. Half-a- 
dozen armed gentlemen offered their congratulations to the ditenu — 
while, for the second time, the intrusionists entered the chamber, and 
even under more infelicitous circumstances than those which had at- 
tended their former occupation. Then, they had anticipated a bran- 
dered muir-fowl, with honourable attendance ; now, speedy execution 
and a short shrift were broadly hinted at ; and in those days, the sum- 
mary disposition of minions of the law upon the Borders, would occa- 
sion no more surprise than drowning a bailiff excited in Connemara 
some thirty years ago. 

From the crowded state of the apartment, and owing to the confu- 
sion incident to the hurried scene, for some minutes the boy escaped 
observation, until Lord Derwentwater inquired for his " elfin courier." 
All eyes followed the direction of the earl's, and the groom who held 
the torch, directed its red glare upon the remoter corner of the chamber. 
There, leaning against an oaken table, with his face averted from the 
company, the youth was standing ; a drooping bonnet, such as shep- 
herds wear, as effectually hiding his face, as the plaid concealed his 
figure. 

" What, Pacelot !" exclaimed the earl, " art frightened, boy ? 
Pshaw ! thy fairy excellence has nought to fear, for all around thee 
are true friends. Come, let me introduce thee to them. Thou kindly 
elf, who left thy gambols by merry moonlight to warn two liege men 
of their peril. Nay, thou bashful thing." The boy recoiled when he 
felt the earl's hand upon his neck. <' Thou must drink the king's 



190 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

health, were it but in the shell of a hazel-nut." But still the boy 
modestly receded. 

" Why, thou tiny traitor, darest thou refuse to pledge thy royal 
master ?" A gentle struggle followed — the cap became displaced, 
and, in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent its falling, the plaid dropped 
also upon the ground. Lord Derwentwater started back a pace — for a 
profusion of rich brown hair fell in waving ringlets over a neck and 
bosom of marble whiteness. 

" A woman, by Heaven !" exclaimed the startled nobleman. 

" Oh ! George, where are you ? Will you not protect me ?" cried 
the pseudo boy. 

" That voice — gracious God ! can it be possible ?" exclaimed the 
earl's companion, springing forward, and next moment Rosalie Fairfax 
was folded in George Maxwell's arms, and sobbing on his breast. 



PART III. 

Great was the astonishment of the Jacobite leaders on discovering 
that they had a concealed enemy in the room — and that the daughter 
of one of the most uncompromising upholders of the kirk, and conse- 
quently, a stanch support&r of the house of Hanover, had been listen- 
ing to their deliberations. Derwentwater, whose gentle nature was 
proverbial, felt the painful position in which his friend was placed, and 
hastening to the recess, where the lovers stood apart from the conspira- 
tors, he said to him in a low voice — 

" Go, George, — seek out a private chamber — and outside, the- lady 
and I will await you." 

Supported by her lover and the earl, with eyes downcast on the 
floor, Rosalie was led through the wondering crowd, who all respect- 
fully made way for her ; and after a few minutes' absence, Lord Der- 
wentwater rejoined his companions. 

" Well, gentlemen," he said with a smile, " What think ye of our 
opening adventure ? I have seen such upon the stage, and read of 
them also, in romances, but, by the true lord ! until to-night, I fancied 
these heart affairs were nothing but the mere coinage of crazy poets. 
But, love aside, now let us to weightier concerns. Ah ! hang-dogs," 
he continued, as he turned an angry glance at the unfortunate admirers 
of brandered muir-fowl, " are ye not hanged yet ? Why, Foster, you 
spoke of expedition, and hinted something about halters and an ash-tree, 
before I left the room." 

" Indeed I did — but this amatory affair interrupted business : how- 
ever, wecan soon remedy lost time ;" and turning to the doomed cul- 
prits, he coolly requested them to make up their minds to undergo an 
operation which circumstances required to be performed with imme- 
diate despatch. But it is marvellous how seldom men feel mclined to 
free themselves by hempen agency " from all the ills that flesh is heir 
to," and the grouse fanciers were no exception to a general rule. 
Loudly and earnestly they protested against strangulation — and finally, 
■compromised for life, by betraying to the Jacobites every secret con- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 19][ 

nected with the royalists which they possessed. With border latitude, 
the horses and arms of the delinquents were at once confiscated to the 
uses of the state ; and divers well-affected gentlemen, who had com- 
menced the campaign, in the conviction of Jack Falstaff, that " linen 
would be found on every hedge," thought it advisable to commence 
operations by partitioning the contents of the saddle bags. 

While over a stoup of claret — a runlet of which liquor had been 
ordered to the room — the proc^mation of the deposed king, and an in- 
stant appeal to arms were decided on — a scene of very different de- 
scription was being enacted in the little charnber whither Rosalie and 
Georjre Maxwell had retired. The bright full moon threw a rich stream 
of silver light through an open casement, beside which, seated on her 
lover's knee, and encircled by his arm, the puritan's fair daughter was 
weeping bitterly. 

" Rosalie," said the Master of Nithsdale, " What brought thee here 
to-night ? That splendid moon which lights the heavens so glorious- 
ly was young, when you utterly rejected my love, and told me that hope 
was ended." 

" Alas ! George, well may you tax my wavering resolution ; when 
I declined thy love I fancied I possessed a Roman heart, but too soon I 
found it was but woman's. Indeed, dear Maxwell, I dreamed not what 
I felt until the bitter parting, and, as I thought, for ever had occurred. 
Then I found existence without thee were a blank ,• and, that apart 
from thee, life were but a burthen." 

" And you do love me, sweet Rosalie ?" 

" God knows, George, how entirely my affections are bestowed upon 
thee," was the reply. 

" And would'st thou prove thy love, Rosalie ?" 

" What proof lackest thou, George ?" 

"Thy hand, Rosalie." 

" Freely, George, shall it be given — but, on one condition ;" and 
an embarrassing pause succeeded. 

" Any consistent with my honour you have but to name, and " — 
' " Ah ! that word honour blights my hopes, even before the wish is 
spoken." f 

" You would not ask me to renounce my faith, dear Rosalie ?" in- 
quired the Master. 

" No, George — I would not urge thee to leave the path which in 
thy belief conducts to a better world, although, in mine, thy selection 
seems erroneous. In His own good time may thy delusion be removed ! 
but until thy judgment were convinced, I would not attempt to influence 
thee. There be many mansions in our Father's house — ^and, in my 
poor opinion, George, there be many ways to find them." 

" Blessings on thee, my gentle girl ! thy very heresy I could wor- 
ship," and with unusual ardour he pressed the loved one to his breast. 
" Ask what ye will, Rosalie, and it will joy me to answer ay." 

" Then hear patiently, dearest, the terms on which my hand shall 
be thine. You know my father's wealth — and I am assured that he 
heaps gold on gold, only to dower me the more richly. I love 
him ; fondly, fondly love him ; and yet that love I feel for him, is 



192 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

second to what I feel for thee ; and were it required, I would leave 
home, and wealth, and parent, and share thy humble fortunes." 

" Oh, Rosalie, after such confession, could I refuse thee any thing ? 
Name thy request ; 'tis granted even before it is spoken." 

There was a momentary silence ; at last the sweet puritan eagerly 
exclaimed, 

" And wilt thou grant my wish ?" 

" Assuredly, my loved one." 

" Then shall I be thine, George ; heart and hand shall be pledged 
thee, and in honest faith. Renounce this wild and wicked project ; 
secede from this absurd conspiracy ; raise not the flame of civil strife ; 
strive not to force upon an unwilling nation a craven prince, and his 
dissolute associates : there is wickedness in the design — madness in the 
attempt." 

" Rosalie," returned young Maxwell, with a sigh, " you fanned into 
life anew, hopes that were regarded as extinguished, and, with one 
brief sentence, they are crushed again. Hear me, ever dearest ! 
patiently, in return. Varied have been the fortunes of the house of 
Nithsdale ; at times, it basked in the smiles of royalty ; at others, it 
felt how changeable a monarch's favour is. It suffered from minions 
when in power ; it stood the feud of rival clans undamaged. In weal 
or woe one boast the Maxwells made — and that was their unshaken and 
devoted loyalty. They received gross injustice from the Sixth James 
— and still in his hour of need did my forefathers hold back ? No ; 
when that rash prince madly drew the sword and lost the flower of 
Scotland on red Flodden, three hundred of the house of Nithsdale died 
round the king they could not save. Reckless as that gay monarch 
was, he was in heart a hero — he died as a man should die ; and half 
his madness was obliterated by the determined gallantry with which he 
expiated his rashness on a lost battle-field — but strange as you may 
'think it, Rosalie, I hold the degenerate aspirer to tne throne of Britain 
lowly as you do yourself — but still, duty and liyalty command me to 
fling personal considerations to the winds, and, hopeless as the attempt 
. may prove, die in an effort to restore him." 

" Nay, George, this is false honour, altogether, and I will prove 
..it such ; even from thine own words, thou sayest the pretender to 

the" 

p. " Stop, pretty Rosalie !" said Maxwell, with a smile; "call him 
i^.the Chevalier." 

I " Well, so be he entitled, an thou wilt have it thus You admit him 
imbecile and worthless — and in the same breath you declare yourself 
ready to the death to support his claims, and force him on a nation who 
despise him." 

" Rosalie, my attachment to the cause arises from principle, and not 
from personal consideration ; and were the royal exile once more seated 
on his throne, by Heaven ! my foot should never cross the gateway of 
St. James's. In the name of Stuart there is talismanic influence to 
sway a Maxwell. I am pledged — honour calls me ; and coute qui coute 
— whether the road I take end in a restoration, or, what is more likely 
far— the scaffold, — George Maxwell will not blench from the essay." 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. I93 

*' Then, George, the word is spoken ; and we part for ever. He 
U'Wlio would raise his right hand on a battle-field against a father, shall 

never clasp his daughter's as a wife !" 
i-i^' The firmness with which the sentence was delivered told too plainly 
•^^liat, in purpose, Rosalie was resolute ; and, while he felt unable to 
reply, a tap at the door without was followed by the entrance of Lord 
Derwentwater. 

" News from thy brother, George ! Nithsdale is arming ; and, with 
two hundred Maxwells will cross the border by cock-crow in the morn- 
ing. Warrants are out against half the gentry in Northumberland ; 
and in ten minutes we must again be in the saddle. Dear lady, I 
lament that necessity makes me an unwilling herald to the parting of 
true love !" 
\ " My lord," said the puritan's daughter, " no excuse is needed, for 
'>'! was about to bid the Master a long farewell. By both, love's fancies 
must be forgotten. We meet, I trust, in heaven — for on earth, our in- 
timacy has terminated." 

" Nay, nay. fair Rosalie ! What means this lovers' quarrel ?" 

'* Time presses, as you say, my lord and the Master, at leisure, can 
explain the causes which forbid a thought on my part, save friendly 
wishes for his prosperity here, and Christian prayers for his future fe- 
licity." 

She rose. Derwentwater looked astonished ; while Maxwell caught 
her hand — 

" Rosalie ! and will, you leave me ?" 

The deep and anguished tone of voice in which it was delivered, gave 
to the brief sentence an indescribable effect. 

" God knows, most unwillingly, George ! The first feelings of at- 
tachment which grow with our growth are difficult to conquer." 

" In the name of every thing incomprehensible," exclaimed the earl, 
" what means this ?" 
fu. " It means, my lord, that the Master asked my hand, obtained my 
hand, and now declines to receive the gift — if aught so poor may thus 
be termed." 

" And, Rosalie, didst thou in truth consent to wed my friend ?" in- 
quired the earl, with eagerness. 

" Yes, my lord ; and in your presence I promise to become his wife, 
quick as holy rites can bind us, an he will but grant the simple favour 
that I asked," replied the lady. 

"What ho ! George ! and could'st thou deny that pretty pleader 
aught?" 

" The wildest wish that romance imagined, could life achieve it — 
and she but named it — I should hold a light condition ; but I cannot ac- 
. cept happiness at the expense of" 

" What, George ?" 
flj; " Loss of honour, Derwentwater !" 

Tjj;; A step came hurriedly along the passage, and a voice exclaimed 

' without, " Why loiter ye ? Mean you that Carpenter's dragoons shall 

close our career, almost before it opens ? A trusty gentleman, who has 

just arrived, saw from the copse in which he hid himself a strong regi- 

fijr 13 



J94 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

ment pass eastward, and only two miles from this. Hasten ! The troop 
is mounted !" 

*' Rosalie ! dear girl !" said the earl, tenderly, " thou hast heard what 
Foster announces, and I must leave you. Part not in displeasure with 
my friend. Extend pardon to one, whom I call heaven to witness loves 
you most faithfully ; and, ere the moon wanes, he shall return and lay 
his laurels at the feet of his sweet mistress !" 

" Laurels !" exclaimed the fair puritan, contemptuously, as the earl 
left the room. " None can be gathered beneath the banner of rebel- 
lion." 

Before ten minutes passed, receding horse-steps announced that the 
Jacobites had departed ; and soon after, where here and there the moon- 
light broke through the wooded valley extending between the lonely 
hostelrie and the domicile of Mr. Fairfax, a solitary pair might have 
been discovered, slowly pacing along the green-sward indistinctly mark- 
ed by the horse tracks of the wayfarers. One, mounted on a palfrey, 
seemed a boy ; the other walked by the youth's side, with his own bri- 
dle-rein hanging across his arm, and his hand resting on the housing of 
his companion's saddle. It was Maxwell and his mistress: and, had 
wide Northumberland been searched, two sadder hearts could not be 
found. They reached a moonlit glade, when Rosalie, pointing to a cot- 
tage, said, in a low, broken voice, " There is the forester's cottage, 
George. We must separate." 

" And can you — can you leave me thus ?" replied the rejected youth, 
in tones that betrayed the agony that attends a lover's parting. 

" It is a duty, and involves a heavy sacrifice of feelings long and ar- 
dently indulged. But it must be, George." 

" Oh, Rosalie ! cast me not from thee. Cannot my sufferings move 
thee ? What can I do to win thee ? To gain a hand I would not bar- 
ter for a crown — what shall " 

" Come with me to the hall," she exclaimed, ere the sentence was 
completed. " Say to my father that you consort no longer with insur- 
gents. I ask thee neither to bewray their secrets, or even band against 
them in the field. Come with me. Only renounce this wicked and 
mad conspiracy, and I promise that, ere midnight strikes, I will wring 
from the old man an immediate consent to take thee for a son, or — and it 
will cost me dear to do it — I swear to quit my father's house, and be- 
come thy wife, even were I to earn subsistence by menial labour." 

A more desperate alternative never tested the moral resolution of a 
brave and enthusiastic spirit ; and such was George Maxwell's. Beauty, 
love, wealth — all were freely offered ; and for what ? Fealty to an 
exiled prince, whom he thoroughly despised, and the abandonment of 
an attempt, which he himself was well assured would prove a disastrous 
experiment. The master of Nithsdale continued silent for a minute — 
a fearful struggle rioted for mastery in his bosom ; and Rosalie, with 
the keen perception of a woman, remarked the secret conflict. Stooping 
her head to Maxwell's, as he leaned against the shoulder of her jennet, 
she gently laid her lips to his, and murmured, " Dearest George, could'st 
thou tear thyself from one who loves thee so devotedly as I do?" 

The kiss was burning on his lips ; the supplicating glance of an 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 195 

eye, whose lustrous black in the moonlight sparkled like a brilliant, 
was turned on his ; and an arm, whose statue-like proportions would 
shame the sculptor's, encircled his neck. What was the decision of the 
Master never transpired ; and whether love or loyalty had triumphed, 
remained a secret in the breast, in which their struggle for supremacy 
occurred ; when suddenly, a horseman issued from a side path in the 
copse-wood ; and so light had been his charger's foot-fall on the turf, 
or so absorbed the lovers by a passage in a life, on which the future 
colour of existence was dependent, that neither noticed the stranger's 
approach until he reined his horse up within a dozen paces. 

"Who goes there ?" exclaimed the Master, in a startled voice. 

" One," returned the rider, " who merely desires to ask a simple 
question. Which is the road, and what the distance to Wooler ?" 

" Heavens ! can it be ? Nithsdale !" 

" Ha !" exclaimed the horseman, pushing his horse forward, and 
drawing his weapon from his holster. " Thou know'st me, and I would 
fain we started on equal terms. Who is it that I address ?" and peering 
for a moment in the Master's face, he continued, " Holy saints ! George 
Maxwell, or his wraith !" 

" Nay, no ghost, brother," replied the Master with a sigh. 

" And what do you here, may I inquire, masquerading as it would 
seem by moonlight ?" returned the earl in anger. " You, who by re- 
port were with Foster and James RatclifTe. Who is this boy ? Where 
be our friends ?" 

" I'll lead thee to them in half an hour," returned the younger 
Maxwell. 

*' Then all is ended," said the Master's companion. And before 
Lord Nithsdale could ask a question, Rosalie had reached the forester's, 
tapped at the wicket with her riding rod, and the door opened and closed 
again, as if by magic influence. 

"What means all this ?" the earl demanded. 

" Nothing, William — but that for life I shall be a miserable man. 
Follow me. I know the path right well, for often have I ridden it in 
happier hours, and on a more gentle errand. Rosalie," he exclaimed, 
looking at the door in the domain wall through which she had disap- 
peared — " Rosalie, farewell for ever ! Follow me, William." 

Striking spurs into his horse, he led the way through a wooded ave- 
nue with which he seemed perfectly familiar, until after a short ride 
through forest-land, the brothers debouched from the copse upon the 
highway, and in a few minutes, overtook their confederates in march 

to Wooler. 

******* 

An attempt so rashly undertaken was still more feebly carried out. 
In another place its outline is given — and it will be sufficient to remark, 
that Foster, whose conduct all through had been marked by indecision; 
consummated his folly by allowing himself to be shut up by General 
Carpenter in Preston. To barricade an open town was only a tempo- 
rary expedient — but as the investing force was cavalry, it succeeded in 
procrastinating, what the besieged insurgents knew well, would prove 
an inevitable event. The first assault made by the royalists was 



.y^l J 



19g HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

bloodily repulsed ; and at the barrier defended by the Maxwells, the 
dragoons sustained a heavy loss. The tall figure of the Master of 
Nithsdale was seen always in the thickest of the mel£e ; and, for years 
afterwards, men spoke of George Maxwell as bravest of the brave. 
Alas ! how seldom is the secret spring of human action openly devel- 
oped. The Master's was natural courage excited to desperation — ^to 
him life was less than indifferent ; he felt it but a burden which he 
wished to have removed ; and where could he part with a worthless 
existence in keeping with his martial name so fitly as on a battle- 
field ? 

An unconditional surrender placed most of the Jacobite leaders in 
the hands of government, but a few effected an escape, and George 
Maxwell was of the number. Heading and hanging, according to the 
condition of the criminals, succeeded. Derwentwater and Kenmure 
suffered upon Tower Hill ; but through the heroism of his devoted 
wife, Lord Nithsdale escaped from the Tower, on the night preceding 
the morning upon which he was sentenced to lose his head. 

For nearly six months, and throughout' a severe and dreary winter, 
the Master was a wanderer in the Cheviots. His small stock of money 
Avas soon exhausted ; and to his gun, and the rude hospitality of the 
mountaineers, he was indebted for the means of living. To conceal 
himself he never resorted to any shifts, — and from the bold and reck- 
less manner in which he exposed himself in pursuit of game, it was 
held miraculous how he escaped arrest so long. Another circumstance 
was most honourable to these wild people — although half the herdsmen 
knew his name and rank, not one of these " nature's gentlemen" could 
be tempted to play him false, by the large reward offered by government 
for his apprehension. 

What Rosalie suffered was endured in private — for in her flither's 
presence she maintained her customary, even, and unexcited bearing. 
But a cheek once carmined by the flush of health began to fade, the 
smile that spoke its morning welcome to her father sickened, the 
diamond sparkle of her eye grew lustreless ; and Mr. Fairfax, who 
loved his only child almost to idolatry, began to tremble for her life. 
Had any additional cause tended to increase Rosalie's misery more than 
another, it was the persecution she endured from De Bolam, who, en- 
couraged by the exile of his rival, coarsely urged his pretensions to her 
hand. For a time she merely declined his addresses — but wearied out 
by his importunities, at last she urged her father either to interdict his 
offensive visits, or, when they were made, to permit her to remain se- 
cluded in her own apartments. In almost every human character there 
will be alloy discoverable. The old puritan's besetting sin. was a 
hankering after wealth. He fancied that in conferring De Bolam's 
enormous fortune on his daughter, he was securing the happiness of his 
child ; and it was after a heavy confliction of feeling, thit Fairfaxunade 
up his mind to decline a wealthy son-in-law. ■ • ' 

"Mr. Bolam," he said, for like modern parvenues, the butcher's son 
had Normanized a plebeian name ; but it was an alteration which the 
honest scruples of Mr. Fairfax declined adopting — " Mr. Bolam, it is 
idle to combat with my daughter's feelings. I believe were the throne 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 197 

of England offered her, that while George Maxwell lived, she never 
would plight hand and fixith to any other." 

There are some wliom tlie expression of woman's dislike would cure 
of any feeling of affection for her who contemned his love. De Bolam had 
a mind oppositely constructed — and the stronger her aversion was mani- 
fested to his person, and the more decidedly his advances were rejected, 
the more fixed his determination became to gain the hand of Rosalie. 
The Master of Nithsdale, as he had long suspected and was now 
assured, had presented a barrier to his hopes ; and no matter what ex- 
pense it might involve, that barrier should be removed. 

We introduced Messieurs Jones and Napper, a few pages since, in 
the persons of the grouse-fanciers at the hostelrie ; and it is only neces- 
sary to say, that the calling they had just then adopted, and which, in 
its first essay, had proved so unsatisfactory, had since become a more 
profitable concern ; and that in the arrest of Jacobites, or supposed 
ones, and in connecting the chain of evidence for their condemnation 
when required — the lost link being supplied by perjury — Jones and 
Napper carried on a brisk and profitable trade. To these excellent and 
useful men, Mr. De Bolam made application. They came to his 
house by special appointment ; and after dinner, the aspirant to the 
fair hand of Rosalie Fairfax opened the negotiation over a stoup of 
Burgundy. 

" And what would'st thou give, squire, to secure the Master in 
Carlisle ?" said the butcher-looking of the twain, whose appellation was 
Jones. 

" A hundred pieces of newly-coined Georges." 

" Would ye not double it," inquired Mr. Napper, "were the thing 
done out of hand ?" 

" I wish it so," returned the host. " Lay the Master in Carlisle 
within ten days, and I'll agree to give thee two hundred." 

Napper directed a speaking glance at his confederate — and then 
replied that the business should be done, if possible, within the week, 
and the conclave ended. 

Unconscious, nay, reckless of the plot, or indeed of any plot that 
might be formed against his life, wearied with a long day's exercise, 
and by the additional toil of carrying a fine roebuck from a distant 
valley where he had shot it, right gladly did the Master hail the 
flickering light that scintillated, as the surface rose or fell, from the 
casement of his humble resting place. He pressed up the hillock on 
which the sheeleeine stood : no anxious boy was watching to explore 
what his hawking bag contained ; nor did the vigilant sheep dogs 
announce his return by their friendly barkings. He entered the kitchen, 
and the roe deer suspended across his shoulders elicited no smile from 
the housewife. The herdsman was hanging over a dead dog, and the 
big drops fell from his cheeks upon the hearth stone — while the gude- 
wife and the weans were endeavouring to pour warm milk down .thfe 
throats of the other dogs, who, poor animals, were now writhing in 
their last convulsions. 

" What means this, Sandy ? What misfortune has befallen the 
dogs ?" 



198 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

*' Heaven alone can tell," sobbed the herdsman. " Maister o' 
Nithsdale, I'm ruined oot an cot. Oh ! Laddie, Laddie !" and he 
turned a desponding look at his dead favourite. " Where could thy 
fellow ha be found ?" 

In a few minutes the mortal agonies of the other dogs were ended ; 
and Sandy carried his dead companions out, and laid them until 
morning in a shed that joined the house. Maxwell retired to the little 
recess he occupied, brought from it the remnant of a Dutch bottle, and 
the contents were liberally shared with the shepherd and the gudewife. 

" Sandy," said the Master, "you named my name, and I will not 
pretend to gainsay it. Broken as the fortunes of our house are, I'll 
give thee a few lines to the hills above Caerlaverock, and thou shalt 
return with the best sheep dogs on the border." 

" Mony thanks, my noble sir. Weel know I the canty tykes ye ha 
there. But, Oh ! Maister ! to lose my ain faithfu' companions, — those 
that in sna or sunshine never wandered from my side. Conscience, 
mon ; I beg yer honour's pardon for swearing — but ye ken it's a sair 
trid. I ha heard o' men losing an old joe, an some rich carl takin' by 
weight o' goold the lassie they had loo'd fra infancy." 

A deep sigh burst from the Master ; but, suppressing his emotion, 
Maxwell observed that, as he had quitted the cabin before day-light, he 
should wish to hear what had occurred, and how the calamity could be 
accounted for. 

The puir tykes must ha crossed groon on which the fairies danced 
yes'treen," said the gudewife. 

" Or been adder-bitten," rejoined the herdsman. 

" Neither, neither," exclaimed the Master. " One of these 
conjectures is absurd, the other improbable. Had ye any travellers 
passing through these wilds to-day?" 

^' None. No foot darkened the door syne the gudeman took the 
hill at cock-crow." 

'■^ Hold," said the shepherd. " Noble sir, a strange occurrence 
happened me. I was lying on the hill-side, looking at the lambs which 
we changed from anither quarter, as they ha not settled yet, when a 
gipsy woman crassed the know, and set hersel doon beside me. She 
asket some questions anentthe road to Chillingham ; and, as the lambs 
were wanderin', I rose from time to time to keep them in my sight. 
Once, when I suddenly crossed the hillock, I saw her thra a bittock to 
the doggies, an then she rose an left me. One thing struck me as 
remarkable. She said she was bent for Berwick, but she took the road 
to Chdlingham." 

"Friend Sandy," said the Master, "that felon gipsy was the 
poisoner, and she sped the poor animals by arsenic. But we must 
devise means to make good thy loss to-morrow." 

The Master took his rushen light and retired to the miserable closet 
he called, in bitterness of spirit, chamber. 

George Maxwell was reckless of life as men are who feel it value- 
less ; but still he had a strong aversion to undergo a quiet martyrdom, 
and was fully resolved that his mortal coil should not be shuffled off 
without a fearful ^clat. The downfall of his own prospects, hopes, and 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. JQQ 

happiness had been followed by the ruin of his family ; and, strange 
feeling as it might appear, not valuing existence at a pin's fee, he had 
determined to render up a disregarded life at a price far beyond its 
value. As was his custom, he laid his naked rapier at his side, and 
placed his pistols within instant grasp, if needed. His Spanish gun was 
carefully reloaded ; and a couple of invaluable deer-hounds, which he 
had obtained from the confiscated property of his brother, rested at his 
feet. Dog and master slept alike ; for, sooth to say, the bed of both 
was heather. 

While the shepherd and his wife attributed the death of the sheep 
dogs to causes alien to the true one, the JVIaster felt a strange suspicion, 
that he was in some way connected with the inhuman deed. It is mar- 
vellous how coolly men in desperate circumstances look to results from 
which others would recoil. 

"They want my head," he muttered with a bitter smile, "to substi- 
tute on London Bridge or Carlisle Gate for my brother's. But, on my 
conscience, the pou * shall cost more than the carcass is worth alto- 
gether, as they say across the border." 

We must, to connect the incidents of the tale, return to Ml", de 
Bolam and his myrmidons, Jones and Napper. When the invitation 
from the former was received, on that very morning an intelligent spy 
communicated to his employers his discovery of the Master of Niths- 
dale's concealment in the Cheviots. The fellow was a travelling 
peddler — and in the course of his peregrinations he had frequently been 
at Caerlaverock, and knew George Maxwell at a glance. The surprise 
and delight of the man-hunters were alike, when De Bolam offered an 
enormous price for the apprehension of a person which they would, as 
a matter of business, have effected in a day or two — and the scoundrels 
kept their secret to themselves. 

" He must not know that we earn the reward so easily," observed 
Mr. Napper to his associate. " Though he's rich as a Jew, he's close- 
fisted as a pawnbroker. No, no, friend Jones, we'll let a day ar two 
pass over before we tell him we can grab his rival." 

" I am delighted to clear scores with him at last," was the reply ; 
for d — n me ! that rap upon the knuckles which the Master gave me 
at the hostelrie I never can forget. Write to De Bolam, and give 
him hope that, by enormous expense, and the emj-loyment of half a 
hundred agents, you expect to trace the lurking-place of his rival- 
curse his presumption ! He — once a butcher's boy, and ugly as a scai'e- 
crow — to dream of Rosalie Fairfax ! " 

Great was Mr. de Bolam's satisfaction at reading the letter from 
Napper ; but greater still, when, a few evenings afterwards, the man- 
hunters rode to his gate, and demanded an instant audience. 

" What news, my friends ? " 

" Better than we dared to hope for — and that so speedily. The 
buck, is lodged," was the answer. 

" Say ye so ? Fill thy glass. Master Jones ; and I drink to thy 
health, in return for thy intelligence. When do ye purpose to arrest 
the traitor ? " 

* Scottici — ^the head. 



200 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" Whenever your worship pleases," said Mr. Jones. 

"Instantly — no delay — marry, this evening." 

" There are some preliminary matters to be settled," said Mr. 
Napper, with a cough or two. " The price of capture is regularly 
agreed upon ; but in these affairs an advance to meet expenses is cus- 
tomary." 

" Think ye I will go back one guinea in the sum I promised 1 " 
mquired De Bolam, angrily. 

" Nay, honoured sir, not one shilling. But," — in one word, we are 
men of business, exclaimed Jones, interrupting his companion, " and we 
always look for half our fee in hand." 

" It shall be given," said de Bolam, unlocking a scrutoire, and pro- 
ducing a bag of gold — " that is, on one condition." 

" Name it ! " e.tclaimed both scoundrels in a breath. 

" That I accompany ye," was the reply. 

" And do you suppose we would play you false ?" 

" No — I hold you to be men of honour," said De Bolam, but in a 
tone of voice which sounded most equivocally ; " but you let him slip 
before." 

" I see no objection to the squire making one of the party," observed 
Napper ; a remark his companion assented to. The money was told 
down — another flask was drunk — and the same hostelrie, where the 
human bloodhounds had first met the intended victim, was named as the 
place of rendezvous at dusk the following evening. 

" Stay," exclaimed De Bolam, as his myrmidons were leaving the 
room ; " what help have ye ? Maxwell is desperate, and therefore 
doubly dangerous. They say that at Preston he fought liker a devil 
than a man." 

" We will take him unawares, if possible," relumed Mr. Napper ; 
" and, for that purpose, I will send Rachel at daylight into the hills to 
poison the sheep dogs. Curse them ! a mouse could not move without 
their hearing it." 

" Marry, an excellent precaution. But if surprise should fail ?" 
continoed De Bolam. 

" I take with me half a dozen gipsy poachers, who value a man's 
life at the current rate of a rabbit's," was the reply. 

" And should the Master offer resistance ?" 

" They will .despatch him with as little ceremony as they would 
stick a leister in a salmon." 

And with this comfortable assurance the men-hunters took their 
departure. 

PART IV. 

It was midnight — and midnight in the Cheviots is exquisitely, lonely. 
Not a breath of wind moved the heather ; and, though a bowshot dis- 
tant, the ripple of the burn was heard distinctly. There was no moon ; 
but the stars were unusually brilliant. After a severe day's exercise, 
it might have been expected that the Master would have slept soundly 
as the tired hounds who were snoring at his feet — but coming events 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 201 

threw their shadows before — and his slumbers were broken. A window 
— if an unglazed port-hole might be termed so— gave a scanty supply 
of light and air to his sleeping place — the air might cool the current of 
his fevered blood — and Maxwell rose, pulled out the heath which stop- 
ped the opening in the wall, and looked out on the dark outline of the 
Cheviots. 

The more he reflected on the mysterious poisoning of the sheep 
<logs, the more he felt convinced that mischief was intended against 
himself. None would injure a harmless herdsman — the foul fiend him- 
self would recoil from villany so gratuitous. Fifty yards in front of the 
sheeliene, the ground swelled gently; and as his eye carelessly sM^ept 
the outline between him and the starlit sky, a human figure rose above 
tlie heath, and crowned it. Another, and another, followed— runtil the 
Master reckoned half a score. He was betrayed — that could not be 
questioned ; and he instantly disposed his weapons on his person, which 
was but partially undressed, and prepared for desperate resistance. 
Wrapped in profound obscurity, from his small port-hole he could ob- 
serve every movement of the foemen." 

" Yes," he muttered between teeth clenched in firm determination, 
*' never had desperate man a nobler opportunity of making a bloody 
e.xit from the troublous stage of life than 1. They think to find a 
couchant deer and easy prey ; but they had better ventured on the wild- 
est bull in Chillingham." 

Grouped together on the hillock, ■ the strangers seemed to hold con- 
sultation how they should best approach a house, in which, as they be- 
lieved, every inmate was asleep. Three or four of the party separated 
themselves from the remainder, and advanced with the evident inten- 
tion of securing the rear against escape, were there door or window to 
permit it. The others came forward cautiously — and in a minute they 
were so close to the opening in the wall where the Master stood, 
that he could hear their deep breathings distinctly. One of them gent- 
ly raised the latch, and announced in a suppressed voice that " the door 
was fastened." 

" In with it at once," was answered in a whisper ; and as Maxwell 
changed his position to one that commanded the entrance^ of the house, 
the door came crashing in. A man entered — a loud explosion followed 
— there was a fall — a rush — a call of lights ! lights ! — all these were 
occurrences of three seconds. The leader — who proved afterwards to be 
Mr. Jones — had not carried life to the floor; for the buck-shot with 
which the Master's gun was loaded had passed through the scoun- 
drel's body, and lodged in the wall behind. Those of the assailants next 
to the dead man stumbled over the body ; while, profiting by the dark- 
ness and confusion, young Maxwell jumped, sword in hand, into the 
outer room, lunging with his rapier right and left, and, from wild ex- 
clamations, which followed each pass, inflicting injury at every thrust. 
His advantage over his enemies was, in truth, a deadly one. In a 
meUe, and that, too, in the dark, the odds against him were unavailing. 
Every thrust he made was surely at an enemy ; while his opponents 
hesitated to strike, lest in the obscurity and confusion the blow might 
fall upon a friend. The deer-hounds added to the uproar ; for, spring 



202 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

ing from their resting place on the first alarm, they took part in the 
affray, and furiously attacked the assailants of their master. 

Maxwell's design was to gain the heath, if possible ; and once his 
foot was fairly on it, he had little dread of effecting an escape. He 
knew the locality well, and his reliance was in himself. In happier 
times none could surpass the Master at any feat which required activity 
and endurance — adversity had confirmed natural advantages, by fre- 
quent calls upon both ; and on these must now be his sole dependence. 
An opportunity to reach the door presented itself; he sprang over a 
prostrate body and crossed the threshold. Several pistol-shots, fired at 
random, missed him : but here fortune deserted the Master. The party 
who had gone to the rear of the sheeliene, hearing the affray, had hur- 
ried to the front, and hence four men unexpectedly confronted the fugi- 
tive. Nothing daunted, Maxwell leaped desperately among them, when 
a stroke from behind stretched him on the earth. His felon assailants 
took care that he should not gain his legs again — for they rained blows 
upon their prostrate antagonist until he had become insensible. 

When consciousness returned, the Master found himself in the herds- 
man's kitchen, and resting in the arms of the gudewife, who was wip- 
ing the blood away from several deep wounds in the head. Lights had 
Ijeen obtained — for with these the party had come provided — and on 
looking wildly round, George Maxwell had no. reason to complain that 
vengeance had not been satisfied. Jones was dead at his feet, and Ue 
Bolam expiring in the corner, from a rapier wound through which the 
bowels had protruded. Of the gipsy confederates who had accompa- 
nied the dead and dying scoundrels, all had been injured less or more ; 
indeed, the only actor in the late affray who had escaped intact, was 
Mr. Napper, and that for the simplest reason in the world — ^because he 
took especial care not to enter on the scene of action until the affair was 
over. One thing affected the Master more than all beside : his faithful 
deer-hounds were dead beside him ; for they fought so desperately that 
the ruffians were obliged to destroy them. 

" My poor dogs !" exclaimed the Master ; " and were you butch- 
ered for your fidelity ?" 

"Ay," replied a savage-looking gipsy, who was binding up a hand 
desperately lacerated by the hound's teeth ; " and we would have play- 
ed thee the same trick, only that for thy living carcass, safely delivered 
at Carlisle, we will get fifty guineas — for thy head not a bawbee " 

" I know thy face well, thou poaching scoundrel ; not six months 
since I freed thee from the stocks : an I live, I'll not forget thee, vil- 
lain." 

" Right," returned the tinker ; " 'twas wise to put that provision in. 
Before I dread thy feud, Master of Nithsdale, provide thee with another 

neck — for Jock hangman makes sure wark." 

****** 

Half dead. Maxwell was carried from the hills in a rude litter, and 
delivered to the commandant in Carlisle. The last special commission 
had emptied the castle tolerably ; for one of the most sanguinary judges 
that England had produced presided at the past assize, and capital con- 
viction followed as a consequence on arraignment. George Maxwell, 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 203 

before the next commission, recovered from his injuries, which, for a 
time, were expected to prove fatal : and early in February, 1716, 
it was officially announced that his trial would immediately take 
place. 

A change had came over the spirit of the times ; and the most 
virulent whigs thought, that if blood must be the penalty of rebellion, 
more than sufficient to meet the ends of justice had been shed. The 
Jacobites were now a broken party. Mar, in the highlands, had proved 
as imbecile as Forster had in Northumberland — and the rash emeute 
only established the contemptible character of the old Pretender, and 
the feebleness of his adherents. Offenders were now less rigorously 
prosecuted, and many of the minor delinquents were allowed to remain 
at large. But for many causes George Maxwell had no reason to ex- 
pect, that towards him, the government would relax aught of its severity, 
as he was esteemed by the whigs a talented and dangerous man. At 
Preston, the i*epulse of Carpenter's dragoons was entirely attributed to 
his devoted bravery ; and the puritans blessed God that the leadership 
of the insurgents had been entrusted to Forster, and not to Maxwell. 
His brother's singular escape from the Tower, and the successful evasion 
of his sentence, was also unfavourable to the Master ; but the desper- 
ate resistance he had offered when arrested, and the death of De Bolam, 
a magistrate, and Jones, a king's officer, exasperated the feelings of the 
authorities more deeply : and all these circumstances united, appeared 
conclusive in sealing the Master's fate. 

To the eternal infamy of those brutal days be it recorded, that the 
wretched criminals, when incarcerated, were left to starve, or merely 
drag existence on, until the halter or an acquittal delivered them, by the 
chance assistance which humane individuals might bestow. When 
the Master was lodged in the castle of Carlisle, a solitary guinea was 
his only dependence ; and on the second evening, that guinea was re- 
duced to a shilling — but the royalist commander was a soldier and a 
gentleman, and he delicately intimated to his prisoner, that he would feel 
gratified in supplying his wants. While the officer who bore the mes- 
sage was in the room, the jailer entered, and handed the Master a little 
packet. He broke the seal : the direction was unknown to him — 
within there was a purse containing twenty pieces — and an intimation, 
that ere that supply would be expended, another should follow it. The 
Master never hesitated in appropriating the money. It came, doubt- 
less, from some timid relative, who feared to compromise his safety by 
holding open communication with one whose personal and political 
character were held so dangerous as George Maxwell's. 

Frequent supplies of money followed the first ; and Maxwell dis- 
pensed them with a free hand among the Jacobite prisoners who were 
destitute. In a prison, then, the influence of money was paramount ; 
and the Master of Nithsdale seemed to have the castle at his command. 

Two days before his arraignment, a packet containing fifty pieces 
was delivered, with an intimation that it should be used in feeing law- 
yers to defend him. Maxwell sent for the most eminent on that circuit 
— ^gave them a noble fee — and told them to assist any poor devil who 
was over desirous of escaping. 



204 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

The morning came — the Master was arraigned, and to the usual 
inquiry he boldly pleaded " guilty !" He was urged to recall his 
plea ; " No," he replied ; " I would not save life, were that possible, 
by flilsehood. Could I deny in this court what five hundred witnesses 
can establish ?" 

Nothing remained but to pass the usual sentence of death, em- 
bowelling, and dismemberment ; and these the prisoner listened to with 
grave and dignified composure. Carelessly, a lawyer whom he had 
feed to defend others, but whose services he had in his own case de- 
clined, cast his eye over the indictment, and suddenly springing up, he 
called for an arrest of judgment, as the document was materially de- 
fective. The judge — a humane man — took the parchment, and in- 
spected it. 

" It is but a technical error, and v/ill avail not," he observed, — 
'' but, God forbid ! feeble as the chance is, that I should refuse it to this 
unfortunate and misguided gentleman. Sentence shall be respited until 
the opinion of the law officers in London be obtained." 

In those days, to communicate with the English capital was an 
affair of lime ; and a fortnight must elapse ere the Master's sentence 
could be confirmed or annulled. Any chance of the latter was held 
improbable ; and George Maxwell, in full assurance that his days were 
numbered, applied himself with calm and manly fortitude to undergo 
the trial. Idolized by his fellow prisoners, and respected by every 
official in the castle, the last days of his captivity were by all rendered 
comfortable as the coercive system of that half-barbarous period would 
admit. All who required it had ready access to the Master ; and none 
intruded on his privacy. The jailer had accommodated him with an 
apartment of his own — and Maxwell had no reason to complain of tlie 
additional restraint, to which those under sentence of death were then 
inhumanly subjected. 

It was on the third evening after his condemnation, that the Master, 
seated in his solitary apartment, mused over the passages of his life. 
A pewter flagon filled with claret — for draught wine was then the cus- 
tom — stood upon the table — and a religious book was turned down at 
the page where he had ceased perusing it. 

" Ay," he muttered, " the reasoning is shrewd — for, in sooth, all is 
vanity — I have tried all : love, loyalty, and ambition ; and all have 
proved failures. I have outlived house, title, estates — and actually 
beggared, have subsisted on the charity of some unknown Samaritan. 
Well, Rosalie ; by Heaven ! I cannot but upbraid thee in my heart. 
Not one consoling line — not a farewell message. No matter : — life, I 
am weary of thee ! — courage ! half-a-score days will end my wretched 
history." 

A knock disturbed his gloomy reveries, and the jailer announced 
that a young gentleman was desirous of speaking with the Master of 
Nithsdale. 

" Let him come up. 'Tis the son of that poor highland chief, no 
doubt, whom I was instrumental in saving at the past assize." 

Twilight had been creeping on : the chamber was gloomy ; for the 
small casement was strongly interlaced with iron bars. Maxwell looked 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 205 

carelessly at the visitor, and signing that he should be seated, puslied 
the flagon across the table. 

" Drink, boy — thy heart is lighter than when we parted last." 

" It is heavier far," returned a broken voice. " George, is it in 
this dungeon that I must visit thee ?" 

*' That voice — Rosalie — -sweet Rosalie !" and in a moment, his mis- 
tress was locked in the arms of her condemned lover. 

" What induced thee to come here, Rosalie ?" 

" What else, but to smooth the last hours of the man I love — soothe 
his sorrows as I best can — and when the dread event is ended, follow to 
the grave — if one be allowed — all of mortal form that ever occupied 
this heart. Then will I retire from this world, until in another and a 
better, I shall, as my trust is, rejoin the lost one." 

Time wore on ; and from the hour the castle gates were opened 
until they closed, Rosalie never left the Master. Powerful interest had 
been made in Maxwell's behalf; but Walpole, the English minister, 
was inflexible ; and all the favour he could be induced to grant, was a 
commutation of the sentence into decapitation. This, to the Master 
Vi'as gratifying ; for, proud of his name, his lineage, and the high posi- 
tion his now fallen family had occupied for centuries, he recoiled from 
the idea of suffering a felon death. If Rosalie, in happier days, had 
admired the character of her unhappy lover, in deep adversity she had 
still higher cause to estimate it. There was a grandeur in the calm 
fortitude with which he contemplated passing through the final ordeal. 
No idle levity, no affected indifference, marked his conduct — he pre- 
pared 

" To die, as sinful man should die, 
Without parade, without display " — 

and he whose reckless gallantry at Preston, and terrible resistance in 
the Cheviots, had commanded the wild admiration of the martial Bor- 
derers, might now be seen listening with devout attention to his con- 
fessor and his mistress, as both, according to different creeds, endea- 
voured to impart the grand truths of man's redemption. 

Time passed : and from Mr. Fairfax, who had started off for Lon- 
don to use influence and money in the Master's favour, no tidings had 
been heard. Another and another day passed over, and at last the fatal 
morning came. 

Over the parting of Rosalie and her lover, the veil will better be 
.drawn ; for although both taxed their fortitude, the last scene was truly 
agonizing. The garrison drums beat to arms ; as a strong military de- 
monstration always attended an execution, the place being a high ground 
without the walls. Presently the troops were under arms ; and the 
sledge, drawn by a single horse, with all the apparatus of death, and 
the hateful functionary who inflicted it, drew up in the court-yard. 
The pious converse which the condemned was holding with his spiritual 
director, was interrupted by a knock upon the door, — the jailer entered 
— bowed with respect, and inquired, " when would the Master be 
ready ?" 



206 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

" I may answer in one of the mottoes of my family — ' Je suis 
pret /' " 

The words were scarcely spoken, when a confused noise was heard 
from without the walls — a thrilling cheer succeeded — the castle gates, 
which had been previously closed, flew open — and a courier, on a reek- 
ing horse, dashed into the court-yard— drew a parchment from his 
bosom — presented it to the commanding officer — and exclaimed, in a 
loud voice, " Free pardon for the Master of Nithsdale ! God save the 
king !" 

******* 

Twelve months passed ; and in the ancient parlour of Holmdale- 
hall, a happy group were collected on St. Valentine's Eve, around a 
blazing wood fire. An old man sat in the chair of ease, resting his 
foot upon a hassock, and holding a fine child upon his knee, which the 
nurse had there deposited. A stout serving man was handing round 
spiced claret on a salver ; and a youthful dame was gazing on her boy 
with all the delight a first-born brings a mother. B-side her sat a gen- 
tleman of gallant bearing ; her hand was locked in his ; and on him, 
ever and anon, her eyes turned proudly from her baby to his parent. 

" George," said a sweet voice ; " on this evening, a twelvemonth 
since, thy chamber in Carlisle, methinks, was not quite so comfortable. 
They say that plots are hatching — wilt thou, George" — 

" Embark in politics again ?" replied the Master, not waiting until 
the sentence was completed. " No, Rosalie ; I won what I coveted — 
thyself, wench — as a man of honour should ; and trust me, I find 
the treasure far too valuable to peril it. When thou and our honoured 
father there become Jacobites, then — but not till then, will the Mas- 
ter of Nithsdale desert a happy home, and love, and Rosalie !" 

END OF THE LEGEND. 



CHAPTER XXVIIl. 

I CROSSED from the railway station at Grant's house to Coldingham 
in a common cart, as the exercise of the previous day had inflamed my 
Avounded leg so much, that I was afraid to attempt on foot the moorlands 
I was obliged to travel. Unlike the beautiful pastoral hills which form 
the ranges of Cheviot and Lammermuir, nothing can be more bleak, cold, 
and miserable, than this barren and uncultivated waste, presenting as it 
does, a desolate contrast to the Lothians I passed through but an hour 
ago ; a district over which the eye delights to range, where a surface of 
thousands of acres is loaded with ripe grain ready for the sickle, except 
where the yellow tint is relieved by the rich green of luxuriant turnip 
crops, or thriving plantations. 

In the carriage from Edinburgh, I had for my vis-d-vis a learned 
Pundit in petticoats ; and having unhappily betrayed myself by some 
Hibernicism, she marked me for a prey. Indeed, I was the only victim 
on whom to fasten. A Quaker from Leeds, when addressed, merely de- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 207 

livered himself of a monosyllable ; and a stout gentleman, in the oppo- 
site corner and a smoky coloured wig, went to sleep before we issued 
from the first tunnel, and had never opened an eye for thirty miles. 
Heaven is beneficent to favoured mortals ; and oh ! what a blessing it 
is to him who can sleep until he reach his destination, if he have piety 
in pattens at his side, or worse still — a she politician. 

A number of Irishmen, or, as they call them, " navies," were la- 
bouring on the line, and in little crooks and openings, they had estab- 
lished themselves and household goods. Their dwellings were small 
clay-walled cabins, covered with sods, and provided with an orifice 
through which a man could creep, intending to represent the door, and 
a hole above to verit the smoke to typify a chimney. What accommo- 
dation the interior afforded I cannot pretend to say ; but each of these 
wigwams was furnished with a wild-looking biped, with a pledge of 
married love in her arms, and a few three and four-year-olds at her foot. 

" Can it be possible," exclaimed the tall, thin, angular personage 
opposite me, and who, 1 feel convinced, was a descendant of Lesmaha- 
go, " that human beings could exist in hovels under which one would 
hesitate to house a cow. Have you, sir, ever seen such sties inhab- 
ited ?" 

•' Oh yes, madam : that is the prevailing order of Irish architec- 
ture." 

" Sir, I have been in the North, and I never saw any thing of that 
kind." 

" But, madam, have you been in Tipperary,Connaught, Connemara?" 

" No, sir." 

" Then, madam, you have not been in Ireland. Ulster is but a 
slice of Scotland and England shoved across the sea. It is denounced, 
disowned, tabooed by true Milesians — and that pleasant gentleman with 
a pickaxe in his hand, and a ventilator, not patented, that hat without 
a crown, upon his head, — he would not touch a ' Northman ' with the 
tongs." 

" But, sir, why is this state of things ? Scarcely a century has 
passed since the Highlands were peopled with Catarans, the border over- 
run with thieves. What are their population now ? Thrifty, peacea- 
ble, sober, industrious and religious ; — why are not the Irish reclaim- 
able ? 

" Were it not unpolite to reply to a lady's question in a dead lan- 
guage, I should say, 'Daws mm, non (Edipus.^ which meaneth " — 

" I perfectly comprehend you ; I speak Latin fluently." 

I started involuntarily — " speak Latin fluently." What sins had 1 
recently • committed, that I should be shut up with an antiquated Blue, 
who had Terentius at her finger ends ! 

" But let me inquire what difference can exist between portions of 
the same island, and why Ulster should be prosperous and peaceful, 
while the West and South are wretched and disturbed V 

" Why, madam, because the people are different in habits, mode of 
thinking, mode of life, and mode of faith, as the antipodes," I replied. 

" Proceed, sir," said the lady. 

" The Northman, madam, directs his enegies to the improvement of 



208 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES 

his farm, if he be an agriculturist ; of his business, if he be in trade. 
His house is clean and orderly within, and his garden has its simple 
flowers, its fruit trees, and its bee hive. His first care is to provide for 
the bodily wants of his progeny ; his second, to educate them liberally 
as his means will admit, and their future walk in life may require. 
From the week's opening to its close, he labours at his vocation. He 
thinks that the canonization or martrydom of a saint, is no reason why 
he should leave his plough in the furrow, or withhold the sickle from 
his corn ; and if you reproved him for working upon Lady-day, he 
would ask you coolly, " would the Virgin pay his rent ?" He reads 
the calendar with as much indifference as an old army list j and he 
will tell you without a blush, that he disbelieves that ever blessed 
Anthony took the devil by the nose ; or that St. Francis gave him the 
strapado. He is generally heretical — thinks there is no sanctity in 
holy water, or sin in eating broiled bacon upon Friday. If the doc- 
trines the minister he " sits under " do not please him, he goes to an 
opposition shop. In religion, he is a free-thinker — not, madam, in the 
common acceptation of the term — but he fancies that every man has a 
right to choose his own path to heaven. In the efficacy of human 
agency to smooth the road to heaven, he believes not ; values the ring 
of the " scaring bell " as little as a dustman's ; nor would care a brass 
button were as many candles extinguished against him in priestly 
wrath, as would set a chandler up in trade. In these opinions he lives 
— and when lie goes to his account, he supposes that his audit would 
not be influenced at the bar above by the prayers of the Propaganda, 
ay, backed by the Pope himself." 

" But, sir, what inference do you mean to draw ?" 

" None whatever ; only to remark, that on the rent day you meet 
the Nonhman returning home with the agent's receipt in his pocket ; and 
if you drop in after church or meeting on a Sunday, you will find a bit 
of beef in the pot, or a joint of mutton at the fire." 

" I fear I speak to one labouring under prejudices which warp his 
judgment." 

" No, madam, you speak to one who practically speaks from per- 
sonal experience." 

" Educate them." 

" They won't liave it." 

" Employ them." 

" Will tliey work ?" 

Carte and tierce the lady and I were interchanging homethrusts, 
when the engine began to grunt, the speed slackened, and we halted at 
the station, whence I was to strike into the hills. A slight obstacle, in- 
cident to every new railway, required a detention of five minutes — and 
anent the difference of opinion between the lady and myself, it carried 
out the old saw triumphantly, which insinuates that " one fact is worth 
a ship load of assertion." 

Was I still in Scotland ? ay, marry was I — but faith ! every thing 
looked uncommonly Milesian. A couple of malefactors were sitting 
handcuffed in a cart ; the rustic posse were in arms ; and on the 
clerk's desk — mirahile visa ! — were laid a case of pistols ! The func 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES, 209 

tionary had his head bandaged ; the assistant's hands were bound up 
in bloody rags ; and an old man was having his head tied up in a cot- 
ton handkerchief. The tale was simple ; — 

The train before ours had brought a dozen reapers ; they had paid 
only to the last station — and there was a difference of three-pence to be 
made up. It was of course, required, evaded, refused, but still pro- 
perly insisted upon. In auld syne, the highlanders preferred steel to 
the circulating medium, and 

" Instead of broad pieces, they paid with broad swords," 

and the lads of the sod instead of producing " the browns," thought it 
better to strike the balance with a reaping-hook. On three defenceless 
men the ruffians threw themselves ; and had not the Hue and Cry 
brought a number of harvesters to the rescue, it would be difficult to 
say whether the maiming they effected, might not have terminated in 
murder. In their ferocious eagerness to assail, they actually inflicted 
serious injuries on each other — and one ruffian was so desperately cut 
through the hand, that I should suppose it more than doubtful whether 
he will ever recover the use of it." * 

I approached the carriage window, where the fair advocate of insult- 
ed Ireland was gazing on this novel spectacle to a Scottish eye — bloody 
heads and handcuffed criminals. 

" Madam," I said, " behold another proof of Saxon oppression. 
Compel the finest peasantry upon earth to conform to the regulations of 
a railway ! men, born ' great, glorious and free," stoop to monetaiy 
restrictions ! See yonder martyrs bound for Dunse — and doubly united 
by patriotic feelings and half a pound of iron. And for what ? Gra- 
cious heaven ! when will sassenach tyranny end ? When will young 
Ireland assume her place among nations, and like that star in the 
Columbian galaxy, pay and repudiate as she thinks proper ? Oh my 
country ! I mourn over thy degradation !" 

" All right," cried the guard. The lady who discoursed Latin and 
not music, threw her head back, I suspect a little bothered in her theo- 
ries. The Quaker looked on imperturbably ; and the man in the sooty 
wig, awakened by the delay, peevishly inquired, " what the devil 
meaned the stoppage ?" A whistling noise was answered by a grunt 
from the engine, and away went the train — leaving the Honourable 
Miss Lucretia Mac Tab — for the lady was an off-shoot from the peerage 
it appeared — to determine, whether a slice from a reaping-hook could 
be considered a legal discharge for three-pence sterling. 

The waste I traversed this forenoon is of Connemara appearance ; 
only that the few houses scattered over it, here and there, have doors, 
windows, and chimneys, of legitimate materials. The panes are not 
glazed with a discarded caubeeine, nor the door blocked up with an old 
mat, or a rickety piece of basket-work. Still it has an Irish look ; and, 
save the redeeming traits of Scotch improvement, which a few healthy 
and well kept plantations give it, you might fancy yourself in Achill 

* This bnital affair occurred at the Grant's house station on the 22d August, 1846. 
The detail is Undercoloured, for a more savage assault was never committed by a pack 
of cowardly barbarians, without the pretext of a cause. 

14 



210 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

or Ballycroy. The surface is sour, wet, and would require a heavy 
outlay to reclaim it ; but where every inch of the lowlands which envi- 
ron it, are highly cultivated, why should this district be neglected ? 
" The child who many fathers share," seldom is nursed over tenderly ; 
and, as these moorlands are partitioned among many other productive 
estates, save in plantations, little trouble has been taken to turn them to 
account. 

From the information of my guide and landlord — for Moffat dis- 
charged the double duty — these wastes were originally, rather squatted 
on than tenanted. Forty or fifty years since, there was nothing in the 
shape of a human habitation, beyond the sheeleeine of a shepherd. But 
wanderers from the Highlands and the " ould country," from time to 
time squatted down, paying the proprietor a nominal rent. They cut 
peats for monetary supplies, and grew corn, potatoes, and a kw patches 
of turnips, for home consumption. The returns of their stunted crops 
are very unproductive ; and save that they are comfortably clad and 
housed, to all appearance a more wretched rural population could not 
be found in the Scottish lowlands ; in Ireland, however, they would be 
considered a fine tenantry, for they have always a sufficiency of food, 
and are proprietors of both sheep and black-cattle. 

This mountain district, like the lower country, is profoundly peace- 
able ; and the orderly conduct of its inhabitants proves the moral 
advantages of example. When those who occupied it first sought a 
settlement here, these wastes seemed likelier to be selected by ban- 
ditti as an asylum, than for the purposes of the agriculturist : nor were 
those who located themselves less wild than the home they had adopted. 
If the assertion be correct, that climate and scenery have a powerful 
influence on human character, this desolate and dreary moorland would 
be ill calculated to soften down a Celtic community. But from the 
industrious and orderly habits of the surrounding population, those of 
these wanderers took tone ; and from the Tay to the Tweed, there is 
not a more inoffensive people than the mixed community who have set- 
tled on Coldingham muir. 

This village — for Coldingham can scarcely be called a town — pre- 
sents a strange appearance to a traveller. It is a collection of irregular 
dwellings, mobbed together in three or four short and crooked streets, 
some presenting you a full front, others favouring you only with a ga- 
ble, and all exhibiting a free-agency in the builder, which showed that 
in the employment of his stone and mortar he was perfectly untram- 
melled, and might do what he pleased with his own. A modern cross 
stands in the central row of houses : and this is the full description of a 
place, once considered so important, as to be marked upon Ptolemy's 
map of Britain. When the priory was erected, the town naturally in- 
creased, and royal visits, not few, but frequent, and a flourishing wool 
market, with an annual fair, raised its population above that of any 
other town in the sheriffdom. In 1371, Douglas, Lord Justiciary, held 
his court here, on account of the superior accommodation which its 
lodgings and numerous inns afforded to the posse commitatvs, and those 
whom this important assize collected throughout the bailiwick. Pre- 
vious to the Reformation, and late as the year 1560, Coldingham was 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. gll 

Lord Grey's headquarters when marching to besiege Leith ; and during 
the night that he halted, six thousand soldiers were lodged and refreshed 
by the inhabitants. A company of foot, I fear, would now tax its re- 
sources severely. 

Such is the town : but where is the proud priory founded by Edgar ; 
gifted royally by David ; enriched by numerous grants from succeed- 
ing monarchs and pious nobles ; endowed with privileges second only 
to those of the crown : an establishment once covering an area of ten 
acres ;* and from its wealth, its rights, and high position among abbeys, 
considered a fitting appenage even for a king's son ? See that Saxon 
arch of red freestone, whose keystone I can touch with my cane, and 
yon half-score yards of crumbling masonry near it, — and except that 
portion of the ruined priory devoted to the exercise of the religion of 
those who issued its " delenda" — in these fragments, behold all that re- 
mains of haughty Coldingham ! Read the lesson those mouldering 
stones convey, and " lay it to your heart !" 

Would I could believe that penance purified the flesh, and I should 
say the last year's peccadilloes which I committed are obliterated. 
Alas ! in a fish diet I have no faith ; nor do I think the water cure 
would prove specific — although I am on the spot where Saint Cuthbert 
proved its efficacy. f But I would recommend a true believer to cross 
Coldingham moor in a cart, and he may sleep — if half-dislocated bones 
allow it — in perfect assurance, that in heaven's chancery his account 
stands cleared. 

I have just returned from sainted ground — the shore where Ebba 
of blessed memory landed, and Cuthbert commenced his miraculous 
career. In early ages, one would fancy that sanctity and navigation 
went hand in hand, and it would be hard to decide whether the saint'^ 
cruise in his coffin, or the lady's run from the Humber in an open boat, 
were the greater nautical achievement. The grassy promontory, from 
which I viewed as wild and romantic an outline of rock and headland 
as can be well imagined, is also holy — for in favour of Edelthryda, the 
consort of King Egfrid, heaven introduced an artificial canal for a 
week, and made this promontory an island. 

Bede's account is rather comical, but no doubt very correct. The 
lady had a brace of husbands ; but " the venerable" declares, that with 
both of them there was a sort of "a thoro'''" understanding. The king 
finding the lady determined upon keeping a separate apartment, and 
wishing for a succession to the crown, allowed her at last to turn nun ; 
but just as she reached St. Abbs, his majesty, who had changed his 

* " The ruins of the cloisters, and olher buildings, scattered around the church, are 
said to have been formerly so extensive and labyrinthine, that it was reckoned a feat 
of no ordinary difficulty for a person led among them blindfolded to make his way out 
from amongst them " — History of Coldingham Priory. 

+ Bede says, that Cuthbert, instead of going to bed, adopted the cool contrivance 
of passing the night at prayer, up to his neck in water. A brother monk, curious to 
know how the young saint employed himself, watched him to the sea-side, and observed 
his aquatic orisons. When these were ended, and Cuthbert came on shore, a couple 
of seals issued from the deep, and having warmed his feet with their breath, and 
allowed him to make a towel of their skins, they scuttled quietly into the ocean, hav- 
ing been requited for their civility by the holy youth's benediction. 



212 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

mind, overtook his wife, determined to insist on conjugal restitution. 
Edelthryda had only time to run up St. Abbs, and implore the saints to 
insulate her citadel. The sea rose and filled the connecting valley ; 
and Egfrid, recollecting the old adage, that " there is no use fencing 
against flails," left the lady to go to heaven her own way, and com- 
forted himself with another gentlewoman. 

Ebba, as the story goes, boarded and lodged the virgin widow, or 
wife, or virgin, for a twelvemonth, until she had erected a monastery 
in Ely, and set up business on her own account. Wilfrid, who had 
been Edelthryda's counsellor and confessor, came under the anger of 
the bereaved king ; and, in a fit of royal rage, the prior was deposed, 
and imprisoned. Now mark the consequences of the laity sinfully in- 
termeddling with holy church. Egfrid, with his bride Ermenburga, in 
the course of the tour which occupies the honeymoon in fashionable 
alliances, stopped at Ebba's monastery. Never dreaming of harm, the 
happy, pair retired for the night, when the devil — no one could ever 
guess how the old scoundrel gained admission — slipped into the nuptial 
chamber, and horsewhipped Ermenburga within an inch of her life. 
The row disturbers the abbess ; and lady Ebba assured her nephew 
Egfrid, that unless Wilfrid was set at liberty, and a bag of relics which 
his lady had prigged from the incarcerated bishop, were returned, his 
Satanic majesty would nightly cow-hide her royal highness, and " no 
mistake." The king saw the necessity to knock under. The bishop 
was restored ; his bag of bones was returned with a handsome apology; 
and tradition asserts that Ermenburga the following night slept as 
sound as a watchman.* 

Certainly, in those days, the devil must have had what, in privateer- 
ing, is termed " a roving commission," and a holy man could scarcely 
slip his cable, without Apollyon intruding on the apai'tment : f in fact, 

* Bede.— Fi7. St. Cuth. Cap. 10. 

t Thomas de Melsonby, seventh prior of Coldingham, had been elected by the 
monks, and veteod by the king. Among other charges alleged against him, one was 
so grave as homicide. A mountebank undertook, with Melsonby's consent, to walk 
on a rope extended between the towers of the cathedral at Durham, and broke his 
neck in the attempt ; the pope, however, not estimating a rope-dancer's bones so highly 
as the king did, confirmed the appointment of the prior. Whether the death of the 
mountebank weighed on his conscience or not is not recorded, but he resigned Colding- 
ham, and went on a pious visit to the hermit on Farn Island. Bartholomew, as the 
hermit was named, was a dull companion, and, for a churchman, kept a table that 
would shame a country curate. Bad company Melsonby might have stood, but bad 
cuisinfrie nobody would put up with, and he returned to Durham, where they kept, as 
I suppose, a man cook. But conscience kept him uncomfortable — although all at table 
was co7mric ilfaut,\ie set out for Farn Island, a second time, and took up his quarters 
with the hermit ; and here, after a short sojourn, he was gathered to his fathers. 
" Heming," says Mr. Raine, " the man who watched over him in his last moments, 
saw choirs of angels clad in white apparel hovering over the hermitage to receive his 
spirit, at the same instant of time, Bartholomew detected the devil sitting in a corner 
of the little mansion, in the shape of a bear, lamenting grievously that the dying man 
had escaped his snares, and was going to his reward. Bartholomew, not much relish- 
ing the presence of such a guest, sprinkled the beast and the place where he was sit- 
ting, with holy water, but without effect. At last, however, he dashed at once the 
vessel and its contents full in the face of the Evil one, who straightway disappeared." 
Now, in our poor opinion, more was effected by the weight of the pitcher than the holy 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 213- 

Nick seemed to have neither shame or delicacy about him ; for although 
detected and kicked out this moment, he was certain to sneak in the 
next. Pope says, that he has ''grown wiser than of yore," but. cer- 
tainly he has grown lazier as he has grown older, for one seldom hears 
of him. I never met any person who had been actually in his com- 
pany but one — and he was a Connaught gentleman. As I had the 
story from his own lips, of course the reader may depend upon its au- 
thenticity. My friend, on his return from a horse fair, was overtaken 
by a well-mounted stranger, dropped into conversation, and invited him 
to his house ; supper was ordered, and in the mean time, the tumblers 
were paraded. Women are extremely sharp ; and while placing the 
glasses on the table, Norah Morraghan — the young housekeeper — dis- 
covered something in the shape of the stranger's boots that excited her 
suspicions. " Mr. Morgan from the North " — for these were the name 
and " whereabouts " he gave the host, — observing that "his coppers 
were rather heated," asked permission to decline toddy for a little 
"cold without," and Norah was despatched to the well, for a fresh 
supply of its harmless fluid. Now, Norah was not only a good Catho- 
lic, but a Carmelite — and, of course, she would not sleep in any house 
without holy water on the premises. She had fortunately a fresh sup- 
ply — and the fresher it is, they say it is the stronger. Norah slyly 
filled the jug with this blessed element, and, returning to the room, 
placed it before the Northman. Mr. Morgan was thirsty, — no won- 
der ; in the place from which he came, the thermometer stands high, — 
and, unconscious of guile, he added water to his alcohol, " and a stiffer 
tumbler," o])served my friend Johnny, " 1 never saw a Christian fabri- 
cate." "Here's luck!" says he, and he raised his elbow to drink it. 
The first mouthful phizzed in his throat like a hot poker in a water- 
butt. " Oh, murder !" he roared, " I'm ruined !" and flinging the 
tumbler away, he went through the funnel like a sky-rocket. 
" You were lucky. Jack, to get shot of him so cheaply." 
" Lucky !" exclaimed my friend ; " why, the villain took the chim- 
ney-pot teetotally away with him — and frightened poor Norah to such 
a degree, that she took her oath next morning on the Racing Calendar, 
that she would quit my service if I ever asked a Northman to lay a leg 
under the mahogany." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Regularlv hors de combat f My leg still continues painful, and in- 
terdicts me from venturing to the moors. It may be the will of Allah 
— but still, I think it was uncivil on the prophet's part, to instigate a 

vater it contained ; for until the hermit shied the jar, the devil withstood the sprink- 
ling. The legend goes on to say, that Thomas died during the set-to ; that his body 
was conveyed to Durham for interment ; and that on the road it cured a lame horse ; 
and during halts — while the mourners obtained refreshment — the defunct churchman 
was guarded through the hours of darkness by snow-white doves, which hovered over 
the coffin, and afforded it their protection. 



214 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

vicious horse to kick an unoffending gentleman at all ; but it was 
additipnally so, when perpetrated during the month of August. One 
would not matter a week's detention in the house in dark December ; 
but to be rendered incapable the second week of grouse-shooting — well, 
well ; " patience, cousin," — what will be, will be. 

And yet I have no reason to repine ; I am invalided where I have 
romantic scenery and romantic associations, almost sufficient to com- 
pensate for detention from the hill and heather which for a week or two 
I must refrain from visitmg. I have also just learned thr.t there is a 
pretty lough not more than a mile off, which, according to report, is 
second to none upon the border for its perch-fishing. We can't have 
always Tweed and its tributaries — and, save for grilse and whitings, 
angling in these fine streams may be considered as being ended ; for in 
autumn, the Tweed is all water or no water, and for one hour she's in 
humour — remember that the Tweed is a lady — she's the other twenty- 
three most confoundedly out of it. 

Many a year has passed since I was a perch fisher. The beard, 
then, had not blackened on my lips ; and now, Eheu I in the moustache 
— as in Lord Ogleby's cheeks — " the lily predominates over the rose," 
and, in my hirsute honours, gray has decidedly the best of it. I have 
seated myself to whip hooks, affix shot to drop lines, and make floats, 
while an envoy is despatched to an old and deserted hotbed, to root out 
brandlings, and bring moss in which to scour them. The morning has 
slipped pleasantly away ; and while preparing for this tarn among the 
Scottish hills, those distant waters I haunted when a satclieled school- 
boy were recalled, and with them, many a happy and, as it must be 
always, many a melancholy reminiscence. 

Morning and evening are the best times for perch-fishing — but on a 
dull, close day, they bite freely all through. I have had an early 
dinner ; a bottle of cold punch, and a book put up ; despatched the gilly 
with all the apparatus ; mounted Rory Bean, and in a quarter of an 
hour reached the little lough. 

I never saw a prettier one. It is a basin among green hills, clear, 
deep, approachable — not like mountain tarns, which generally are 
belted by a bog. Here, with a dress boot on, you can kill a basketful 
of perch — and, if the sky is clear, and your conscience in tolerable 
condition, fill up the intervals between the gilly noticing that " the cork 
is bobbit," and your lugging out a perch, with "the Clandestine Mar- 
riage" or " a Call to the Unconverted." 

Fly-fishing is, of the gentle art, the only gentlemanly pursuit after 
all. I was persecuted this season by the weather, from the time I 
commenced my angling campaign till I closed it. For a week the 
waters were low ; then down came a planet shower, and on came a 
spaight ; every streamlet " hurrying its waters to the Tweed," with an 
enormous mass of debris swept otF its banks ; weeds, wood, hay, — every 
cast you made, the fly bringing in a bit of wool, or some other floating 
valuable, over which the farmer might lament, but the angler would 
sing no jubilate. In these perplexing circumstances, the minnow and 
the worm were the only resources left ; you killed fish — and weighty 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 215 

fish ; but the manipulation was dirty, — so different from the neat, the 
ele-gant, and the scientific transjection of the fly. 

Angling is considered an active, contemplative sort of amusement ; 
but my present operations are not only passive, but here I sit, the very 
personification of luxury and laziness. It is a calm, mild, sunless 
evening — and, excepting an occasional cat's-paw, " there is not a breath 
the blue wave to curl." The tarn is deep, and the reflection of the 
green hill opposite, on its unruffled surface is beautiful. The lower 
extremity of the lough, where the waters find an egress to the sea, is 
sedgy ; and there, two or three broods of the prettiest of the duck tribe, 
the teal, have located themselves. Now and again, the ducklings steal 
to the edge of the reeds, as if to take a sly peep at us ; but a low quack 
from the old teal, seems intended to reprove their curiosity, for they 
immediately return to the rushes. My attitude is one of ease. I half 
sit upon, and half recline against a rock ; my " length of limb " indo- 
lently outstretched upon the sward. I enjoy mental and creature com- 
forts through the united agency of a volume of old plays ; mem. no 
modern play is readable ; — and a bottle of toddy. The gilly apprizes 
me when the float announces a decided gulp down, or merely a cau- 
tious nibble. I then rise, leave my Lord Ogleby at his toilet, or Miss 
Fanny in a very delicate predicament, land a fish, make the gilly 
replace the brandling, (I have taught the fellow the art — for even 
worming a hook requires some knowledge how to do it,) and having 
returned the line to the water, I then return to my book and bottle. 
Probably, before I have established myself the gilly exclaims, " Hegh ! 
preserve us ! the ither cork has gien an awfu' bob ! " Again I am on 
my legs ; and the same process as with number one, is gone through. 
Shade of Sir William Curtis ! You who always sailed as an alderman 
should sail ; an experienced cook, not surgeon, shipped for the voyage ; 
and a haunch or two of venison, and half the produce of a garden 
dangling over the counter of your yacht. You were never I'equired to 
show a private signal ; for any channel-groper * had only to take a peep 
at your stern, and identify the Em7na at a glance. Were you in the 
flesh, would not this be the angling you would swear by ? Just fancy, 
how a venison pasty, cold — and punch, " a la roman" — iced, would 
taste here ! 

The sun had disappeared, the toddy ditto, when I directed Rory 
Bean to be apprehended, for while I was enjoying classic ease, — I take 
classic ease, by the way, to mean a bottle and a book, — Rory had ob- 
tained liberty to amuse himself upon the hill side. While the gilly 
was in pursuit of the pony, I enumerated the caption of the evening — 
sixty-three ! ranging from two ounces to a pound. On the grass, perch 
look uncommonly pretty ; but in my opinion, they and all other fresh- 
water fish — salmon and sea-trout gloriously excepted — are worthless. 
A cockney, who eats them at Greenwich, fancies he tastes fish, while 
he is merely swallowing what they have been stewed in ; for through 
the medium of the same abomination, a pig's pettitoes or a rabbit's leg, 
would, in taste, be found exactly similar. Still the unhappy man ima- 

* A name given in war time in contempt to cruisers on the home station. 



2<l6 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES, 

gines that perch has flavour ; he continues in that heretical opinion 
during life ; and when he goes to his final audit, did the holy man who 
shrived him endeavour to remove the delusion, the dying sinner would 
gasp out, " Go. down to Lovegrove's an' ye love me !" Well, let any 
body eat perch who pleases — the moiety of a brandered * chicken will 
do for me to-night. 

******* 

A ride of half an hour brought me to the ruins of a stronghold, 
whose stormy history I should say was almost unmatched in the records 
of the dark ages. I left my horse at an adjacent farmsteading, and 
descended the cliff, where a portion of mouldering walls still remaining, 
point the place out where Fast Castle stood. The site embraced the 
whole surface of a cliff of bold elevation, and on three sides completely 
insulated. The extent is but small — in length about one hundred and 
twenty feet, and half that space in breadth, while it towers over the sea 
some seventy. On the fourth, and only vulnerable side, the fortress 
was separated from the mainland by a deep but narrow ravine, now 
partially filled up with rocks, detached by accident from the other 
cliffs around it. This interstice was carefully scarped out, and formed 
an excellent dry ditch, over which the castle communicated by a draw- 
bridge, protected at either extremity, by a gateway and suitable de- 
fences. It is said that besides this land communication, it possessed a 
sea one ; and that a stone staircase wound through the heart of the 
rock, down to the huge cavern which the fortress domineers. It stands 
in as wild a locality as ever was selected ibr a human dwelling. An 
air of desolate security reigns about it, its only recommendation ; and 
scenery and site fully justified the Scottish monarch in remarking, that 
" the man who had first chosen Fast Castle for his residence, must have 
been in heart a thief." 

Who its original founder might have been, or what the period when 
the rock was first fortified, tradition tells not ; but enough of its history 
is handed down, to mark by its singular vicissitudes, the stormy charac- 
ter of the times, and the uncertain tenure of property. In the rude 
dwelling perched upon this isolated rock,")* in turns a robber sheltered, 
a queen was lodged, and a conspiracy hatclied : but a hurried memoir 
of its varied fortunes will be curious, if not instructive. 

The annals of Fast Castle may be said to open with Halidon Hill 
(1333) ; for a few days after the Scottish defeat there, it was taken by 
Sir Robert Benhale. In 1402, arid 1404, it was still retained in Eng- 
lish possession; and from the custody of John, Duke of Bedford, warden 
of the East Marches, it passed into that of a freebooter, called Holden. 
In 1410, the robber was surprised, and the castle occupied by the 
Scotch. 

From 1467 to 1.515, the Homes held Fast Castle. In 1.503, they 

* Brandered. Broiled upon a gridiron. 

t August ]2th, 15G7. Throgmorton, envoy from Elizabeth to the Scottish king, 
writing to the Prime Minister (Cecil), says, " I lodged that niglit, 11th July, at Fast 
Castle, accompanied by Lord Hume, the Lord Ledington, and James Melvin ; where 
I was entreated very well, according to he nature of the place, which is fitter to lodge 
prisoners in, than folks at liberty ; as it is very little, so it is very strong." 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 217 

entertained the Queen Margaret, on her route to marry the Scotch 
king. In 1513, the death of a prisoner in the castle dungeon is re- 
corded — Lilburn, one of tlie murderers of Sir Robert Ker. In 1515, 
the Regent Albany, took the place, and left a garrison in it. The 
Borderers, however, soon afterwards expelled the garrison, and demo- 
lished the place. . 

In 1521, the place was tolerably restored by the Homes, and m 
1548, taken by the English, under Lord Hertford. It was recovered 
by a successful stratagem, and repossessed by the Homes. Finally, in 
1573, the last transaction in its military history, closed on Fast Castle 

it being reduced by Sir William Drury, on his route to besiege 

Edinburgh Castle. 

By marriage, the castle came into the possession of Logan, Laird 
of Restalrig, a turbulent and profligate personage — or in the parlance 
of the day, " ane godles, drunkin, and deboshit man ;" who was soon 
afterwards outlawed for harbouring Bothwell, of infamous memory. 
Tradition had long asserted that treasure of immense value was con- 
cealed in Fast Castle ; and, singular as it may appear, the inventor 
of logarithms, Napier of Merchiston, entered into a formal agreement, 
" by all craft and ingyne," to recover the same. That a scientific and 
able man, at a period so late as the commencement of the seventeenth 
century, should have expected that planetary influence would turn up, 
what, doubtless, many a mattock and pickaxe had essayed to find in 
vain, proves that philosophers were as great simpletons two centuries 
since, as they are at present. Logan, and he of logarithms, fell out, 
however, before the experiment was tried — and the treasure is popu- 
larly believed to still remain buried in Fast Castle. Now that railroads 
are at an end, might not a Fast Castle-joint.stock-treasure-recovery- 
association be established ? I am certain that were it started, fools 
enough would be found to purchase shares. 

The last and most memorable transactions with which the history 
of Fast Castle is associated, and, indeed, with which it closed, was the 
most singular and silly conspiracy on record, excepting that of Emmett 
in 1803—1 allude to that termed "the Gowrie," which was principally 
hatched within these ruined walls. The object, on Earl Gowrie's part, 
was to revenge his father's death, who had been beheaded in 1584, for 
being concerned in a plan for seizing the king's person— which gene- 
rally is designated " the Raid of Ruthven." Logan of Restelrigge *— 

* Loo-an's original letters were accidentally discovered but a few years since, among 
warrants'of parliament deposited in the Register office, Edinburgh A few extracts 
will mark the style and character of the times. The first letter is dated " From Fast 
castle, the awchten day of Juliy, 1600." Logan recommends Fast Castle as the safest 
place to concoct the conspiracy. „ i r 

" Alvyse to the purpose, I think best for our plat that we meet all at my house ot 
Fast castle ; for I hew concludit vt. M. A. R. (the master of Ruthven, younger brother 
of earl Gowrie), how I think it will be meittest to be conveyit quyetest m ane bote be 
sey ; at quhilk tyme ypon sure adwartisement I sail hav the place very quiette and 
weil provydit." . , , .^ ., 

Reckless as his character was, Logan appears to be careful that no written evidence 

of the conspiracy should remain. . ^ i . ^u . 

" Quen ye hav red," he says, " send this my letter bak agayn with the barar, that 

I may see it burnt myself, for sa is the fashon in sik erandis ; and if you please vryt 



218 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

by the latter title he subscribed his letters— being a broken and un- 
principled man, willingly consented to assist the earl in his mad design, 
on promise of being rewarded with a valuable grant of lands in East 
Lothian. However convenient Fast Castle might be to an outlaw, still 
Logan fancied that Dirlton would form an agreeable change of resi- 
dence — and he heartily entered into the conspiracy. 

One is puzzled to determine whether the king or the conspirators 
were the greater fools. The absurdity of the plot, and the clumsiness 
of its execution, could only be equalled by the stupidity with which 
James allowed himself to be trepanned, by a story of a cock and bull. 
A few lines will recall the outlines of this strange transaction. While 
hunting on the 5th of August, 1600, in the neighbourhood of Falkland, 
the master of Ruthven persuaded the king to leave the chase, and come 
to his brother Earl Gowrie's residence, in Perth, to examine a man 
whom he, Alexander, had detected with treasure in his possession ; 
namely, " a great wide pot, all full of coyned gold, in great pieces." 
James fell into the trap — was conducted to Gowrie's palace — seduced 
from the courtiers and suit, who were left at dinner — led from room to 
room, until he was brought to a closet in a turret ; where, in place of 
being introduced to the personage with the " great wide pot," he found 
a man armed to the teeth, with a drawn dagger in his hand. But 
Henderson — the man in armour — was inoffensive as if he had been , 
one of the Lord Mayor's : he neither would stab the king himself, nor * 
let young Ruthven, who seemed anxious to send his majesty to hea- 
ven. Then came a parley : Henderson opened the window, and James, 
though grappled round the neck, managed to pop his head out, shouting 
manfully, " Treason ! Fly ! Help ! Yearl of, Marr ! I am mur- 
derit !" 

The upshot of the affair was, that the king's attendants heard and 
responded to their master's call ; and while they were endeavouring 
to force the locked doors, Sir John Ramsay, who appears to have been a 
straightforward man of business, obtained entrance by a private one — 
made his way to the turret closet — asked no questions — but passed his 
rapier through the master of Ruthven. The earl, on entering the room, 
found the king unhurt, and his brother dead upon the floor. Ramsay 
and he instantly went to work, James rendering no assistance ; and the" 
good knight, after a stout struggle, made a vacancy in the peerage. 

your ansuer on the bak hereof; encase ye vill take my vord for the credit of the 
beerair." 

No. 2 is dated, " Fra the Kannogait, the xviij. day of July." 

"For Goddes cawse, keip all thingis very secrete, that my lo. my brother (lord 
Home^ get na knawlege of our porposes, for I wald rather be eirdit quik," meaning 
buried alive. 

No. 3 is dated from " the Kannogait," (Canongate.) 

No. 4 from " Gunisgrene," (Gunsgreen, Eymouth) " twenty nynt of July, 1600." 
Caution again is apparent. 

" Alvyse, my lo. ghan yonr lo. has red my 'etter, deJyver it to barar agane, that I 
may see it burnt vith my awin ein ; as I hav sent your lo. letter to your lo. agane ; for 
so is the fassone I grant." 

No. 5 and last, is dated " Gunnisgrene the last of July, 1600. Caution again. 

" And for Code's cawse, vse all your courses cum discrctione. Faile nocht, air, 
to send bak agane this letter ; for M. A. leirnit me that fosson, that I may see it de- 
Btroyit myself." 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 219 

The probable design was not to assassinate the king, but to spirit 
him away, and secure him in Fast Castle ; and it was said that a boat 
was waiting in the Tay, and that Logan and Laird Bour, wlio was an 
active ally, were ready to receive the royal captive. These two died 
in 1606 ; and, as it would appear, no suspicion had attached to either, 
while the vengeance of the law wis reserved for an Eymouth attorney. 
Sprott, as he was called, was an intimate of Logan, was cognizant of 
the plot, and subsequently obtained and concealed the correspondence 
which passed between Gowrie and Logan during the conspiracy. He 
was apprehended in 1608, got some " chappis in the buittis," — for a par- 
ticular detail of which horrible torture see Macbriar's death, in " Old 
Mortality" — confessed — recanted — had his legs cured, which " wer 
very ewil woundit with the buittis" — re-confessed his treason — and 
died liker a Christian than an attorney, singing " the sext Psalme" with 
a " verie loud and myghtie voce." Men generally admit the justice of 
their sentence previously to their being hanged ; but Mr. Sprott, it 
would appear, made this acknowledgment after he. had been tucked up: 
— " Whil suspendit by the neck from the gibbete, he three several 
times gave a loud clappe with his hand's, in testimoni of the truth of his 
confessions."* 

One curious formula of Scottish law marked this absurd conspiracy. 
Sprott's conviction had, by the revelations it elicited, implicated Logan ; 
but two years before he, Logan, had gone to his account — and the grave 
is held to be a safe bar against criminal proceedings. But though the 
body of the conspirator was beyond " the iron knuckles of the law," 
his bones were still comcatable; They were accordingly exhumed after 
a three years' repose — brought into court — formally arraigned — and 
forfeiture pronounced against their former proprietor, and his heire for 
ever ! 

Connected with this district, and apropos to criminal law, we may 
mention a tragic occurrence which took place in the vicinity of 
Coldingham. The name of the unfortunate lady was Home, and the 
scene of the murder a farm-house near Linthill.f 

Having received a large sum of money from Edinburgh, the lady 
had retired to rest — while a servant, in whom she reposed confidence, 
had determined to rob his mistress, and for that purpose secreted himself 
underneath the bed. The gold was deposited in a drawer, the key was 

* Sprott, the unhappy notary of Eymouth, convicted of being " airt and pairt in 
the conspiracie," was thus sentenced. 

" For the quhilk caus the said Justice Depute be the mouth of George Cheilsie, 
dempster of court, be his sentence and dome decernit and ordanit the said George 
Sprote to be tane to the mercait croce of the burgh of Edinburgh, and thair to be 
hangit vpone ane gibbet, quhill he be dpjd ; and theireftir, his heid to be stmcken frome 
his body ; and his body to be quarterit and deviderit as ane tratour ; and his heid to be 
put vpone ane peik of iron aboue the Tolbuth of Edinburgh, quhair the rest of the 
conspiratories heidis standis ; and his haill landis, heritages, takis, steidingis, rowmes, 
possessionis, giiidis and geir, to be forfaltit and escheat to our souerane lordes vse as 
culpable and convict of airt and pairt of treasonabill and detaislabill crymes above 
specifict, and conceeling thairof Quilk was pronuncet for doom " 

t It occurred in October, 1751, and fiill particulars may be found in the Newgate 
Calendar. 



220 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

in the lady's pocket, and when he fancied that she slept, he crept from 
• his concealment, and endeavoured to obtain the means by which he 
could unlock the bureau. Unhappily for herself his mistress wakened, 
and Norman Ross, believing himself detected, murdered the lady with 
a clasp-knife. But though mortally wounded, his victim had strength 
to ring the bell — and hearing an alarm given, the villain jumped oat of 
the window, breaking his right leg in this attempt at escape. The lady 
only lived long enough to denounce Ross to be the murderer, and the 
criminal was discovered next morning in a field of peas, into which 
during the night he had managed to drag himself. 

Being convicted on the clearest evidence, he underwent the extreme 
penalty then imposed on murder of the deepest atrocity. Before 
execution his right hand was chopped off by the hangman, and after 
death his body was suspended in chains. 

Ross was the last criminal who suffered dismemberment before 
death ; and, since that time, this portion of a murderer's punishment 
has, in the Scottish law, become a dead letter. 

I have just inspected Coldingham church, and returned in villainous 
temper. " The remains of the priory are insignificant," says Mr. 
Barr, " when contrasted with its ancient importance as a religious 
house ; the greater part of the buildings, which had withstood the 
ravages of time, and the artillery of the Regent Arran and Cromwell, 
having been sacrilegiously applied by the inhabitants of the village to 
the construction and repairing of their houses." Of the monastery little 
remains indeed, and that little is most discreditable to all concerned. 
The church is an architectural paradox. One of its side walls and a 
gable — the north and east — being the work of Edgar or David, the 
others erected since the Restoration, and built of the coarsest materials. 
In the eyes of an antiquary, who can discover beauties where ordinary- 
sighted mortals only can detect deformities, Coldingham and its 
patchwork walls may have charms. But, after a man has spent a 
week at Melrose, and compares the inimitable chiseling of that " fayre 
abbaye" with the rude sculpture of Coldingham, the contrast between 
the coarseness of the one and the exquisite elegance of the other, will 
be apparent, as the difference between the manipulation of the effigy on 
a country tomb and a chef d'oiuvre of Canova. As a specimen of 
monastic architecture Coldingham is without interest ; and although 
many portions of the ruins have been laid bare to the foundations, 
nothing has been found appertaining to olden time, excepting some 
stone coffins, and a few trifling coins, too much defaced to be 
identified. 

It was a question with the learned, whether Coldingham was a monas- 
tery only, or a double establishment, like Saint Abbs, for both monks 
and nuns; but a discovery, made sixty years ago, would appear to prove 
that it was of the latter order. In tearing down some portion of the pri- 
ory which had been under ground, in a built-up niche of one of the 
vaults, the skeleton of an immured female was found in perfect preserva- 
tion, and two sandals of fine leather, furnished with silken latchets, were 
lying in the same recess, — placing the question beyond a doubt, that 
there some wretched female had been entombed alive, — that being the 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 221 

punishment inflicted by those infernal communities, upon any frail mem- 
ber of the sisterhood who " broke Diana's law." 

As a place of modern worship, I must say that Coldingham is dis- 
graceful. Pillar and wall are green with damp ; and many of the rude 
boxes — it would be a libel upon pews to call them by that name — are 
placed upon the bare earth. Some of them have large loose stones, car- 
ried in by such of the occupants as may have the fear of rheumatism 
before their eyes, to elevate their feet upon. When the beddral un- 
closed the door, the vault-like smell, green walls, and unfloored sittings, 
almost led me to imagine that I was in a Connemara chapel : but no ; I ' 
was in one of the richest districts of the land of cakes. The day was 
splendid, genial and warm as any that ever blessed a harvester ; and I 
inquired of the son of Crispin who accompanied me — for when not en- 
gaged in making a grave he mends a shoe — why the deuce he did not 
ventilate his building ? His answer was naive, but satisfactory, — •' It 
was sae lang syne the sashes were lifted, that they would na lift at a'." 
A brief inspection satisfied me — I came out, and the beddral locked up 
his Golgotha. He seemed, as I thought, in a hurry to close the door, 
lest any portion of the humid atmosphere should escape. " Heaven for- 
bid," I exclaimed, when I found myself in blessed sunshine, "that I 
should in that charnel-house be obliged to listen to some Poundtext or 
Kettledrummel, reprobating the ways of the wicked for a full hour and 
a half. At any odds, I would back myself I'egularly in for ague." 

After viewing all that records the existence of one of the wealthi- 
est establishments which the Church of Rome possessed in Scotland, 
where superstition was nursed in the lap of luxury,* and the represent- 
atives of the Galilean fishermen forgot the humility of Him who came 
to save, and those who first followed him, I turned to a scene of more in- 
terest, and walked to the fishing village of Northfield. Midway between 
Coldingham and the shore, a hill called Applin Cross is pointed out, with 
which a melancholy tradition is associated, — the total destruction of the 
inhabitants of Northfield, in 1645, by the plague ; one family, named 
Brock, alone escaping. The infection was brought from Leith by a 
vessel which is said to have drifted into the harbour without a living 
soul, all having perished during the passage down the Frith. Fearful of 
coming in contact with the infected villagers, those of Coldingham 
brought medicines and provisions to Applin Cross, and there deposited 
them for the unfortunate people to remove when wanted — and an earth- 
en mound where the dead were interred, or, as they term it in country 
parlance, " the plague was buried," is still pointed out. Mr. Dickson, 
the late tenant of Northfield Farm, opened it some years ago, and the 
truth of the tradition was confirmed. Within the mound a quantity of 
human bones and decayed cloth indicated that the persons whose remains 
were exposed, had been interred in the clothes they died in ; and several 

* Besides an extensive suit of private apartments and stables at Coldingham, the 
priors had a hunting seat at Houndwood, where they spent most of their time. Be- 
side exclusive right of hunting over their own grounds, William the Linn gave the 
prior and his monks Greenwood, Reston, Brockholewood, Akeside, Kirkdeanwood, 
Harewood, Deanwood, Houndwood, with all their groves, wastes, &c. &,c., to sport 
over. 



222 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

decayed vessels, in former times used as meal arks, at once established 
the fact, that on this hillock the wretched inhabitants of Northfield had 
received assistance from their neighbours. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

The route is come, " southward we march at break of day," and my 
second visit to the borders has terminated. Well, my course may point 
to warmer climes and sunnier skies ; but, did circumstances not inter- 
dict it, while health permitted, I would " breast the free air" upon a 
highland hill ; and when age rendered the foot unfit to press the heather, 
dream time away upon the banks of silver Tweed, until I slept " the 
sleep that knows no breaking," beneath one of the hallowed ruins which 
stud this classic and romantic district — Dis alliter. I submit, and I 
shall hold myself in readiness for the march. 

Packing up is one of the nuisances of existence — and light as my 
kit is, I dread the operation. That scoundrel who took possession of me 
in the Hull steamer, tired of being comfortable, or what he called 
"servitude," in a week — and set out to give new readings of Shakspeare, 
with a strolling party he accidentally dropped upon in Morpeth. I fancy 
his d^but was not successful, for one evening he rejoined me at the 
King's Arms : told me with perfect indifference, what trouble he had in 
making me out, but now, blessed be God ! that he had found me, our 
union through life should be more indissoluble than matrimony itself. I 
flung the boot-jack at the ruflRan, — but he ducked his head, and I missed 
him. All unmoved, the villain came boldly forward, " Arrah ! upon 
my conscience ! ye might have been offerin' thanks to heaven by this 
time, for the safe return of a faithful sarvent, instead of pelting boot-jacks 
at him. Murder ! what a fire ye have," he continued, taking the 
poker in his hand-^' many a time ye missed me no doubt, you un- 
fortunate ould man^ But, feaks ! it's now that you'll be properly 
attended to." 

I caught the tongs up, and delivered what Gregory calls a " swash- 
ing blow ;" but Pat was prepared for mischief, and fenced it cleverly 
with the poker. It is unnecessary to say more, than that throughout the 
evening a sharp skirmish was carried on, during which I threw three 
books and the bellows ; but, at the same time, candour ooliges me to 
own, that before I went to bed I was b§aten to a standstill, and re-hired 
by Mr. Clancy as a master. 

For a month the vagabond consented to be comfortable. He had 
good qualities for attending on a fisherman like myself, who bordered 
so closely upon the half-centuxy, that the exact anno octatis would not 
have been considered a pleasant inquiry. He took water freely as a 
spaniel — and, pugnacious to all the world besides, from me curses and 
abuse, peats, books, and bellows, as the one or the other happened 
to be in readiness on demand, were received with perfect stoicism. 

Accident enabled me to ascertain his honesty — and a stouter sup- 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 223 

porter was never at the back of an elderly gentlerfian. There are, even 
in this land of Goshen, two or three villages of evil reputation. Yetholm 
is the gipsy metropolis ; well, its morale may be considered very sus- 
picious — and there are in this locality a class of what the Irish call 
"coarse christians;" which being translated, meaneth half savages, 
who " drive coals," and are notorious for their general incivility. I was 
returning from Kelso in a gig, Mr. Clancy enacting Phaeton, when a 
barbarian with a loaded cart, having selected the wrong side of the 
road, left us no choice but to pull up, or measure wheels with him. 

*' Arrah ! bad manners to you, you common Mohawk," said Mr. 
Clancy, " why don't ye keep your own side of the road ?" 

The protest of the gig-driver elicited a very coarse rejoinder. 

" Upon my sovvl !" returned my valet, " only I would be dirtying 
my hands, I would lick gentility into ye — you ill mannered keout." 

A derisive laugh was returned by the carter. 

" Plase yer honour, just keep the baste quiet and hould the reins, 
and ye'U be greatly delighted wid the slating I'll give that vagabond." 

" No — no," I said ; " the scoundrel is heavier by two stone — sit 
quiet." 

" Whisper," replied Mr. Clancy, " Divil a handier boy you would 
meet in a month of Sundays wid the fut (foot) — and feaks ! it's my left 
hand that'sUhe right one." 

Consigning the reins to my custody, he hopped down like a harle- 
quin, and peeled in a twinkling to his shirt sleeves,— a ceremony in 
which the collier followed the example. I felt alarm for the result, 
when the carter displayed his brawny and shapeless shoulders ; but 
Pat, like his countryman famed in song, was 

'' Brisk as a bee, and light as a fairy ;" 

and though the brute had weight and strength, action and length were 
per contras in favour of my valet. 

The collier had no idea but to fight — advanced like a bull-dog — and 
in a few seconds saluted mother earth. As the fancy elegantly term 
it, in this operation "claret had been tapped ;" and Pat requested me 
to remember, that in case of future dispute on this point, " first blood" 
was his. 

" The extent of Mr. Clancy's accomplishments I had not even sus- 
pected until now. In the science of defence — or rather as the carter 
found it, offence — he was evidently an educated gentleman. Egad f 
had I known it before, I question if I would have ventured to throw the 
bellows at him. 

Foiled and furious, the collier rushed at his antagonist to butt him 
down, but close fighting was not more fortunate than the former tactics. 
A scientific insertion of Mr. Clancy's foot, disturbed the perpendicular 
of his opponent ; down went both heavily, but my valet uppermost. 
He was instanter on his legs again, and while the carter slowly gather- 
ed himself up, he winked significantly and observed, " Divil a lie I 
tould yer honour, when I said I was handy with the fut :" — memoran- 
dum, I'll never throw the bellows. 

The third round closed at the same time, this passage of arms and 



224 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

the visual organs of the collier. He remained recumhent for a couple 
of minutes, while Mr. Clancy requested me to call " time." 

" Arrah ! what the divil is keepin ye there?" inquired the laquais 
du place, "get up, will ye, and don't be detainin his honour." 

'•' I'll fight no more," said the fellow sullenly as he rose. 

" Then sorra worse hand I ever saw back an unmannerly tongue. 
May be, ye'll take yer cart out o' the road ?" 

No second intimation was necessary. The obstruction was prompt- 
ly removed ; Mr. Clancy skipped into the gig ; and we proceeded on 
our way rejoicing. 

" Pray may I presume to ask in what school you acquired the ad- 
ditional accomplishment I have had the pleasure of witnessing to-day ?" 
I said, when we were again in motion. 

" Yer honour manes the use of my bunch of fives. Troth ! and I'll 
tell ye that !" returned Mr. Clancy. " I was travellin companion wid 
Dan Donnelly for a twelvemonth ; an when he was ' starrin it,' as the 
players call it, through the country, I used to set-to wid him. God 
rest yer sowl, Dan ! you were a regular trump, and a good catholic ! 
for though he was a fightin-man, yer honour, he was a raal Christian ; 
and feaks ! he would be very unasy if he missed mass upon a Sunday !" 

Another fortnight passed ; two events happened : Berwick fair came 
on, and Mr. Clancy disappeared. Was he in the Tweed, or had the 
gentleman in black claimed a faithful disciple ? The evening of the se- 
cond day cleared the doubtful question. A faint tap was heard upon 
the door of the apartment, where I was sitting over a bottle of A'ery 
respectable port, and wondering at the same time what the devil had 
become of my valet. It was so feeble that I did not answer it ; but in 
half a minute one of more assurance was given, and I growled an an- 
swer to " Come in!" The door was cautiously unclosed, and a voice — 
Mr. Clancy's — observed to a companion in a patronizing tone, " Stop 
darlin where ye are, until I mintion yer bisness to his honour !" Then 
turning to me, he continued, " Arrah ! fresh and well yer lookin !" 
and the villain audaciously advanced and showed me a full front. 

" Where have you been, you unmatched scoundrel ?" I shouted ; 
" and how dare you venture here ?" 

" Don't be grippin at the bellows, for the sake o' God ! Troth ! I 
was about yer own business !" was the reply. 

"My business, you infernal vagabond !" 
T>lT. « Yes, feaks ! and may-be I havn't fixed you to a T. Ye had the 
' 'liick of thousands in getting me ; but thin ye wanted a fayraale house- 
keeper. Come in, Mary Ann, and show yourself to your master." 

" As he spoke, a tall, raw-boned, red-headed woman entered the 
room, and ducked a brace of courtesies. 

" In the devil's name, who are you V I bellowed. 

" Troth, an I'll tell you — she's modest, the crature ! and yer enough 
to scar any one that's timidious. This gentlewoman, is Mistrus Clancy 
— she favoured me with her virgin hand yesterday evenin at Lamber- 
ton Bar. Now yer certain to be well attended, as ye have a respecta- 
ble married couple without incumbrance. Do keep yer hand off the 
poker ; it's an ugly habit ye have got." 
brf?.; .■ . , 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 225 

A tremendous pull at the bell-rope, that brought it down, and the 
waiter in, in double quick, interrupted Mr. Clancy. He merely re- 
mained until he heard me desire that the police might be sent for m- 
stanter — and then, with Mary Ann, made a rapid retreat ; and, thank 

heaven I I have finally got rid of him. 

* * * * * * 

Got rid of him ! Not 1, faith ! The old man of the sea never 
stuck closer to the back of Captain Sinbad, than the villain sticks to 
mine. I had booked myself to Alnwick, intending to linger a few days 
in Northumberland ; packed the kit ; finished breakfast ; and was 
making preparations to take my place in the coach, when the bolt of the 
door was gently turned, and in stepped Mr. Clancy. 

" Arrah ! don't be strichin yer hands to the fire-irons. Pon my 
sowl ! I nearly kilt myself to be here in time. Let me help ye on wid 
the coat. Were you lookin at any body drinkin last night ? for you 
appear a little washy this mornin, like a man who had been upon the 
ran-tan. Don't be so cranky — no spakin to ye now, but the fist's up." 

" I tell ye what, you scoundrel, I know I'll be hanged for you. I 
am certain to commit murder. Off" with you, before I get hold of that 
carving-knife !" 

" Oif wid me !" exclaimed Mr. Clancy, horror-struck at the very 
mention of a separation ; "and lave yer honour unprotected. The 
Lord forbid ! Arrah ! where should I go to, but to wait upon the best 
of masters ?" 

" To that trolloping tramper, your wife !" 

" My wife !" and Mr. Clancy smiled innocently. 

" Why, you accursed villain, did you not announce your marriage, 
and actually produce red-head in this room ? Would you deceive the 
wretched woman ?" I exclaimed, in a towering passion. 

" Och not I, feaks ! But ye see ye have the wrong end of the 
story. It's me that's desaved, and she's the desaver. God pardon her 
for the same !" 

" How so, you unblushing vagabond ?" 

" Feaks ! Mary Ann had three husbands before ; — and wasn't I to 
be pitied when I made the fatal discovery? Well, I went straight to 
the gentleman that married us. ' Why, ye thief of the world,' says I, 
spakin him fair and softly, * how dar you take in an innicint youth like 
me ? You knew, you patent scoundrel, that Mary Ann had three hus- 
bands already — one o' them stoker in the Eclipse — and the other two 
workin on the railway.' 

" * To be sure I did,' says he. ' But do ye suppose that I would dis- 
oblige an old customer — a respectable woman like herself, that's mar- 
ried once at laste, as regularly as the fair comes round ? But I'll 
diworce ye,' says he ; ' and though that's an expensive ceremony, I'll 
let ye off for half-a-crown.' 

" ' Be gogstay ! an that same's a comfort,' says I, ' for ye see I have 
a cranky ould gentleman to look after.' What the divil, can't ye let 
one spake, without grippin at the fire-shovel ! So feaks ! he gave me'^ 
these lines to satisfy ye that I was jist as good as a single man I" and 
16 



22(5 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

the scoundrel pushed into my hand a beastly-looking scrawl, which I 
consigned to the fire instanier. 

" Oh, thunder an turf!" he exclaimed, " have ye burned the di- 
worce ?" 

The horn sounded. Will the reader believe it ? The vagabond is 
perched upon the luggage ; and I am hired for the third time ! 
******* 

There is nothing particularly striking in the line of the country be- 
tween Berwick and the baronial residence of the proud Percys, unless, 
that by a stretch of conjecture, we may have passed through the birth- 
place of the celebrated American lawyer. Justice Lynch.* In the 
coach I had a travelling companion who excited a most painful interest. 
She was a beautiful highland girl of eighteen, journeying southward, 
en rovte to Madeira. Her mother and a maid were her attendants ; and 
the agonizing and unceasing anxiety with which that mother watched 
every change that passed over the hectic countenance of her treasured 
child, shall never leave my memory. She was, alas ! in hopeless con- 
sumption ; and. Oh God ! how beautiful the victim was, whom death 
had remorselessly selected. 

If there be any thing calculated to add to the distress with which 
one looks upon youth and loveliness hurrying to the grave, it is the 
total unconsciousness on the part of the doomed one, that hers are num- 
bered days, before she becomes a tenant of the tomb. Poor Julia ! she 
felt grateful for my attention ; and expressed a hope that next shooting 
season she should receive me in the highlands. She spoke of her flower 
garden and her aviary ; and in Madeira, she should add to her collec- 
tion of plants and birds. At her father's the salmon fishing was excel- 
lent — "she should return in April, and the 20th was her birthday — 
would I make one of the company ?" Her mother dropped her veil ; 
but I saw the big tears following in quick succession. April ! Julia — 
the grass upon thy grave will then be green — there is not a month's 
life in thee ! 

I have crossed the battle-field where death had reaped his harvest 
plentifully — ay, and looked coldly on those who crowded it — but, by 

! — I know the recording angel won't book the oath — if I could 

meet Julia's sparkling and speaking eye, without finding mine become 

womanish. 

******* 

The northern approach to Alnwick is grand ; for the castle nobly 
displays itself. Its site is on the southern bank of the river AIn, which 
makes a graceful sweep beneath its imposing enceinte. I should fancy 
it the most extensive baronial residence in Britain, as well as the most 
interesting, as the space within the walls measures five acres. For- 
merly it was encircled by moat and curtain ; but now the north-east 

* According to tradition, at Bowsdon, a Scotsman, shortly before the Union of the 
Crowns, entered the village one evening with a halter in his hand. What could 
he want with it ? To steal a horse of course. His looks were unfavourable — his re- 
plies to divers questions deemed unsatisfactory ; and the inhabitants, vnthout fiirther 
ceremony, hanged him with his own halter on an ash tree at old Woodside ! Could 
matters have been managed, more promptly in Kentucky ? 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

front is opened. Like the learned asses who congregate annually iu 
England, and fancy, by a bold stretch of the imagination, that, a la 
the Tooley-street tailors, the eyes of Europe are turned upon them and 
their proceedings, the olden savans were sorely puzzled upon the Bor- 
ders ; and sad was the task occasionally inflicted to determine the era and 
order of a building. When a gentleman had decided that the affair 
was regularly Roman, some Saxon arch stared him unexpectedly in the 
face, and annihilated a quire of foolscap and his theory. Another had 
it pure Gothic — when some infernal Norman abomination blasted his 
vision, and demolished the house of cards. I fancy that Sir Robert 
Bramble in the play, must have been an antiquary, for no people de- 
light so much to differ in opinion. Pennant laments that " you look in 
vain for the helmet on the tower, the ancient signal of hospitality ;" 
and histead of being conducted to the salle a manger, and requested to 
draw a chair and take an air of the fire, the visitor is expected to 
*' stump up."* Another Theban, however, makes the castle of the 
Percys throw immeasurably into the shade the residence of " Bumper 
squire Jones," a personage immortalized in Irish song. " There are 
no miserable dungeons filled with captives," quoth he ; '' no places of 
execution groaning under their execrable burden ; the towers remain, 
but without the cry of captivity and torture. Hospitality, clothed in 
princely array, sits in the hall, dispensing with a brow of benignity, 
mixed with features of the highest magnificence, gifts worthy of her 
hand." Now, as a piece of bathos, I take it that this " beats Banna- 
gher " — and Bannagher, as every body knows, beats the gentleman in 
black. 

It would be out of place to enter on a minute description of a 
building, that every artist has sketched, and every traveller has chroni- 
cled. Fancy an irregular circuit of towers connected by curtains ; 
every pinnacle crowned by the rude effigy of an ancient warrior, gen- 
erally in the act of aggression, and in a minatory attitude which 
seemed intended to warn trespassers off" the premises. The figures 
and the weapons are certainly in keeping with the times they indicate ; 
but I confess, in my humble judgment, these chiselled soldiers have 
more of the grotesque about them than the grand. The taste in ar- 
chitecture in days gone by, however, warrants it sufficiently — for when 
a pig playing upon a bagpipe was supposed to be selon la regie among 
the ornamental designs which decorate " fair Melrose," surely the same 
latitude may be extended to the battlements of Alnwick. 

The castle was divided into three courts, or wards ; each protected 
by its tower and portcullis, and furnished with what then was a neces- 
sary appendage — namely, a prison. A vault was also attached to each, 
in which the wretched victim was immured rather than confined — he 
being lowered through a trap-door by a rope. The defending towers of 
the inner ward are octagon, and fine specimens of the solidity of an- 
cient masonry ; for although erected by the second earl, and nearly 

* " The numerous train whose countenances gave welcome to him on his way, are 
now no more ; and instead of the disinterested usher of the old times, he is attended 
by a valet, eager to receive the fees of admittance." — Pennant, 



228 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

500 years old, they are in excellent preservation, and have set enemies 
and Father Time at bold defiance. 

The approach to the castle retains much of the solemn grandeur of 
former times. The moat is drained, and the ceremony of letting down 
the drawbridge forgotten ; but the walls which inclose the area still 
wear the ancient countenance of strength and defiance. It is entered 
by a machicolated gate, defended by an upper tower ; and, after pass- 
ing a covered way, the interior gate opens to the area. This entrance 
is defended by all the devices used in ancient times, — iron-studded 
gates, portcullis, open galleries, and apertures in the arching for annoy- 
ing assailants. Nothing can be more striking than the effect at first 
entrance within the walls from the town ; when, through a dark, gloomy 
gateway of considerable length and depth, the eye suddenly emerges 
into one of the most splendid scenes that can be imagined, and is pre- 
sented at once with the great body of the inner castle, surrounded 
with fair semi-circular towers finely swelling to the eye, and gayly 
adorned with pinnacles, figures, and battlements.* 

The varied fortunes of the Percys and their princely stronghold, 
may be traced almost pari passu, with the coeval events which English 
history and local tradition have handed down. Like all powerful 
families in feudal times, they occasionally basked in the smiles of 
courtly favour, or felt the withering influence of royal jealousy. At 
one while, their kings wrote them his " right trustie and well-beloved 
cousin ;" and at another, " traytor and arch-enemie," were the terms 
employed. Like themselves, their place of strength underwent the 
varied changes incident to a troubled age and dangerous locality. This 
day, its gates were open to give noble welcome to guest and traveller ; 
and the next, would find them closely barred to repel the threatened 
onslaught of the besieger. f 

The names by which the numerous buildings which compose the 
castle have been designated, mark the feudal magnificence of the 
middle ages, when princely power united with monastic influence, and 
the proud baron was virtually, under the influence of his confessor, and 
nominally, of his king. Of sixteen towers, there are the Constable's, the 
Record, the Armourer's and the Falconer's. Of course, the church held 
a proper status in the establishment, and the abbot had a building to him- 

* Pennant. 

+ So long back as the reign of William Rufiis, Alnwick was invested by a Scottish 
army, and the incidents which marked the siege are curiously illustrative of the age. 
An old MS., preserved in the British Museum, thus generally describes it. The cas- 
tle, although too strong to be taken by assault, being cut off from all hopes of succour, 
was on the point of surrendering, when one of the garrison undertook its rescue by the 
following stratagem : — He rode forth completely armed, with the keys of the castle 
secured to the end of his spear, and presented himself in a suppliant manner be'bre 
the king's pavilion, as being come to surrender the possession. Malcolm too hastily came 
forth to receive him, and suddenly received a mortal wound ; and the assailant escaped 
by the fleetness of his horse through the river, which was then swollen with rain. The 
chronicle adds, that his name was Hammond, and that the place of his passage was 
long afterwards named Hammond's Ford. It is most probable, that over this ford the 
present bridge was built. Prince Edward, Malcolm's eldest son, too incautiously ad- 
vancing to revenge his father's death, was mortally wounded — and a stone cross> in 
good preservation, marks the spot on which the king was kUled. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 229 

self. No matter how much doctors may differ, Alnwick had suitable ac- 
commodation for a full garrison of holy men ; and if my Lord Abbot 
dropped into the Caterer's Tower, en passant, to inquire what was for 
dinner, Father Matthew had only to pass on, and in the water turret he 
would have found a cistern of the pure fluid, which could have set a 
brigade of teetotallers at defiance. In 1512 seven priests and seventeen 
choristers were returned on " the morning strength" of Alnwick ; and 
if one of the household was impeded on his route to paradise to undergo 
purgation for his sins, if four-and-twenty priests would not send him 
forward to Saint Peter in double quick, the fellow must indeed have 
been absolutely past praying for. 

In the Record Tower of Alnwick a singular and interesting direc- 
tory for the management of the household of Henry, the fifth earl, was 
discovered, and its details truthfully depict the style and habits of the 
times. For the annual support of an establishment of 166 pei'sons, and 
fifty-seven visitors or strangers, one thousand a year is assigned, making 
an average for the daily maintenance of each 223 individuals amount 
to twopence and a half-penny, or by the year, 6^. 0*. b^d. The con- 
sumption of animal food appears excessive — for vegetables are not 
mentioned in a record so remarkable for its minuteness in detail, that a 
stipulated number of pieces must be cut from every quarter of beef, 
mutton, &c., even to salmon and stockfish, and hence esculents are 
presumed to have not been in request. The earl's calculation is curi- 
ously particular. One hundred and nine fat beeves, and twenty-four 
lean ones ; six hundred and forty-seven sheep ; twenty-eight calves ; 
twenty-five hogs, and forty lambs ; are to form the annual rations. 
Throughout the greater portion of the year, both beef and mutton were 
salted — and hence, the supply of mustard is not unreasonable — although 
one hundred and sixty gallons, at first reading, appears a large one. 

The liquid supplies — the cistern in the Water Tower not included — 
we consider liberal. Besides five hundred hogsheads of heavy-wet, ten 
tuns and two hogsheads of Gascoign wine are allowed. In soap and 
candles the earl was an economist. There were but nine dinner-cloths 
in the house — eight for my lord's and one for the knight's table. In- 
cluding the chapel linen, the washing of Alnwick is limited to forty 
shillings a year ; and were it not for the honour of supplying " clean 
flax" to a family of distinction, I question if a London laundress would 
take the contract at the present day. How, when Bacchi plenus, the 
earl and his establishment got to bed is a puzzler ; for the consumption 
of the whole, — earl and abbot, knight, page, and esquire, my lady and 
my lady's maid, — only ninety pounds weight of candles are set down ! 
The reveille beat at six, and tattoo at nine, when the gates were closed. 
The breakfast hour was seven ; dinner, ten ; and supper, four. The 
cookery of the times was not exactly what it is now ; and a French 
artiste, even at the court of the eighth Henry, would have had no field 
on which to exercise his talents. The earl and countess — who were 
excellent Catholics — breakfasted in Lent on salt-fish, red-herrings, and 
sprats, with beer and wine ; while a maid of honour * could have stood 

* The dietary of these delicate young gentlewomen, in the reignof Bluff Harry, was 
eiibstantial ; and a " Lady Lucy's allowance would admit of no complaint, were qua- 



230 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

a boiled-beef-shop without wincing, and turned dov by the 

gallon, like a coal-whipper. 

I believe no family of position could now travel wii. at their hatte- 
rie de cuisine, and my Lord Percy, in his migrations to his Yorkshire 
residences, carried his kitchen apparatus along with him in a cart. 
Fancy it was not, but necessity — for, in truth, the worthy earl had but 
a single set of pots and pans. 

Money, in these good old times, must have certainly been scarce. 
Would M. Jullien and his troup musicale have been contented for a night's 
performance, with twenty pence, while a nursery-maid's yearly fee 
was twenty shillings ? * Even the saints, it would appear, felt the pres- 
sure of the money market. Our blessed Lady of Walsingham, who, as 
every body knew, stood A 1 in heaven, received for making all safe 
there for the earl — an annuity of a groat ! 

Could I but command time, and stay my lingering footsteps, with 
what delight would I not wander through every ward of this most inte- 
resting county ! In the ruins of princely Warkworth I could pass a 
summer's day ; and in its classic hermitage, when 

" Evening gray 
" Had all things in its sober livery clad," 

repose in the priest's vestibule, and fancy that his reverence and my- 
self were tete-d-tete.-\ But although not married, ^' laus Deo !" still 1 
am a man under authority ; and the " land of brown heath and shaggy 
wood " must be reluctantly abandoned for that emporium of fashion and 
vulgarity, immortalized as the " great metropolis." 



CHAPTER XXXL 



Horace never would have cut a figure at sea, — and it is certain his 
antipathy to go afloat amounted almost to hydrophobia. To potter in 
and out of an Adriatic harbour, in his estimation, warranted a direct 
charge of insanity — and had he been actuary of a life assurance, he 

lity equal to the quantity. Miss Lucy was allowed for breakfast a chine of beef, a 
loaf, and a gallon of ale ; for dinner, she had boiled oeef, a slice of roasted meat, and 
another gallon of the heavy. For supper, a mess of porridge, a piece of mutton, a 
cheat, or finer loaf, and a gallon of ale. To be comfortable after supper, there waa 
left on the table a manchette loaf, and a gallon of ale, and half a gallon of wine. 

* " Rewards to playars for playes playd in Chrystymas, by stranegers, in my house, 
after xxd. every play by estimation. Somme xxxiiis. iiijd. in full contentaction of the 
said rewardys. Every rokker in the nurcy shall have by yere xxs." — Household Book 
of Alnwick. 

t " Ther is in the parke also one howse hewyn within one cragge, which is called 
the Hermitage Chapel ; in the same ther hath bene one preast keaped, which did such 
godlye services as that time was used and celebrated." — Survey of Warkworth, 1567. 

" Passing from this outward building by the entrance, the visitant ascends by seven- 
teen steps, to a little vestibule, with a seat on each side, capable of holding one person 
only. Above the inner doorway appear the remains of an inscription, which was, 
' Sunt mihi lachrymae meae cibo inter die et noctu.' " — Picture of Northumberland. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 231 

would have declined nautical applicants as " trebly hazardous." If old 
Flaccus could not stand clear blue water, how would he like to tunnel 
it two miles under ground — put in the winter beside an iceberg — travel 
on the northeast railroad — spend a summer in Tinibuctoo — or take a flight 
in Green's balloon ? And yet, than any of these nervous trials, we hold 
mining to be more taxing on the courage. There ai'e so many incidental 
perils — danger, that no human foresight can avert — the scene of labour, a 
living tomb — accident unavoidable as instantaneous — solitude, darkness, 
all unite in augmenting chance calamity with " horrors not its own." 

On my route to Hexham, the ground beneath which a frightful acci- 
dent had occurred some thirty years ago,was pointed out. It was caused 
by a sudden inundation of the Heaton Main Colliery, from contiguous 
workings long disused, and in which, during past years, water had ex- 
tensively accumulated. At the time when this unexpected calamity 
occurred, ninety-five individuals, and thirty-seven horses were in the 
pit ; and but twenty of the former escaped a worse than watery grave. 
On the alarm being given, crowds from all the towns and villages hur- 
ried to the spot to render assistance if they could — but human aid was 
vain — and old men shudder when they recall to memorv the fatal 13th 
of April, 1815. 

Immediately after the accident, three large engines — one of them of 
one hundred and thirty horse power — were employed in drawing the 
water from the pit. It had soon risen to nineteen fathoms ; and at 
three o'clock of the day after it first burst forth, it stood at thirty. On 
the next day it was found to be at thirty-three fathoms ; though the en- 
gines, which were incessantly in motion, discharged 1200 gallons per 
minute. At length the quantity of water began gradually to be dimi- 
nished, but it was not until the 6th of January, 1816, that the first body 
was brought to the bank. It was that of an old man employed on the 
waggon way — and a fact worthy of notice is, that the waste-water in 
which he had been immersed, had destroyed the woollen clothes, and 
corroded the iron parts of a knife the deceased had in his pocket, yet 
his linen and the bone haft of the knife remained entire. Shortly after, 
Mr. Millar, the under-viewer, the waste men, and six others, were dis- 
covered : they had met a similar fate, having been overtaken by the 
water about a hundred yards from the shaft, to which they had been 
hastening to save themselves. But their lot, and that of some others, 
may be considered fortunate ; for their sufferings were transient when 
compai'ed with those which awaited the unhappy beings left at work 
towards the rise of the mine, and as yet unconscious of their dreadful 
situation. About the 16th of February, the higher part of the work- 
ings were exposed ; and now a scene truly horrible was presented to 
view — for there lay the corpses of fifty-six human beings, whom the 
water had never reached, the place being situated thirty-five fathoms 
above its level. They had collected together near the crane, and were 
found within a space of thirty yards of each other. Their positions 
and attitudes were various ; several appeared to have fallen forward 
from an inequality, or rather step in the coal, on which they had been 
sitting ; others, from their hands being clasped together, seemed to have 
expired while addressing themselves to the protection of the Deity ; 



232 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

two, who were recognized as brothers, had died in the act of taking a 
last farewell by grasping each other's hand ; and one poor little boy re- 
posed in his father's arms. Two slight fabrics had been hastily con- 
structed by railing up deal boards ; and, in one of these melancholy 
habitations, three of the* stoutest miners had breathed their last ; and, 
what seems singular, one of them had either been stripped of his clothes 
by his surviving companions, or had thrown off all covering from men- 
tal derangement. A large lump of horse flesh wrapped up in a pocket, 
nearly two pounds of candles, and three others which had died out 
when half burned, were found in this apartment, if it can be so called. 
One man, well known to have possessed a remarkably pacific disposi- 
tion, had retired to a distance to end his days alone and in quiet — and 
that this would be the case was predicted by many of his fellow- work- 
men, who were acquainted with the placidity of his temper. Another 
had been stationed to watch the rise or fall of the water ; to ascertain 
which, sticks had been placed upright — and he was found dead at his 
post. There were two horses in the part of the mine to which the peo- 
ple had retired ; one had been slaughtered, its entrails taken out, and 
hind quarters cut up for use ; the other was fastened to a stake, which 
it had almost gnawed to pieces, as well as a corf or coal basket that 
had been left within its reach. 

How long these ill-fated people existed in their horrible tomb it is 
impossible to determine ; but that they perished for want of respirable 
air, and not from hunger and thirst, is certain ; for most of the flesh 
cut from the horse, together with a considerable quantity of horse-beans, 
were unconsumed, and a spring of good water issued into this part of 
the colliery. 

Good God ! what a frightful picture of life hopelessly sacrificed, 
and death protracted ! Immured in the bowels of the earth, lingering 
■ their numbered days away in total darkness, or with the sickly gleam 
of candle-light, too feeble to penetrate the gloom of the living tomb, but 
strong enough to display its horrors. Were aught required to swell 
their misery to madness, it would be the terrible remembrance that 
home, and all that makes home happy, were not a bowshot distant ; 
and that the. foot of an agonized wife, or the child, orphaned even before 
its father's life was extinct, might at that very moment, be pressing the 
turf above ! 

The horrible sufferings attendant on death slowly produced by star- 
vation, have been frequently experienced and described by shipwrecked 
mariners ; but, how light by comparison, are those of the ocean cast- 
away, when contrasted with the misery with which the spirit of the 
entombed sinner parts from its tenement of clay ? The wretch upon 
his raft, has sky above, and sea around him. Does a cloud-speck ap- 
pear upon the horizon, he can fancy it a distant sail, and flatter himself 
that rescue is at hand. He sees the sun sink — but will he not hope 
that when he shows his glorious disc to-morrow, his earliest beams will 
brighten the white canvass of some approaching ship ? He has Jight 
and air ; the passing sea-bird ; the drifting weed ; the sun ; the , stars ; 
all afford something for fading sight to rest upon. But to feel oneself 
in a sarcophagus — full of life and vigour — pent in the bowels of the 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 233 

earth, and surrounded by Cimmerian darkness — then indeed, the en- 
tombed sufferer may exclaim, " Oh ! it is hard to die." 

It is interesting to read with what surpassing fortitude starvation has 
been borne ; and life, or rather a spark of it, been retained by submis- 
sion to more than stoic self-denial. Man, under circumstances of pri- 
vation, eats to continue existence ; and animals appear, even in death's 
agony, to obey an impulse for food. The horse, disabled on a battle- 
field, and whose sufferings have been protracted a few hours, will be 
found to have eaten to the last — and a circle of grain or herbage, far as 
his declining strength can reach, will gradually have been cut down. 
It is fearful to contemplate the effect of extreme hunger upon the brute 
and his master — one, cannibal-like, will prey upon his fellow ; the other, 
actually upon himself.* 

4: % ^4: 4: 4: 3): 

" On their own merits, modest men are dumb," but I am strongly 
inclined to fancy myself heroic. There is not an article in domestic 
use that I have not converted into missile — and, notwithstanding his 
pugilistic accomplishments, I have pelted Mr. Clancy from the presence. 
It was a daring feat, but it will cost a sovereign ; for an ill-directed 
hearth-brush, instead of indenting the scoundrel's skull, lighted on the 
glass covering of a stuffed macaw, and of course reduced the same to 
smithereens ; and before I could shy the poker the vagabond had van- 
ished. Egad ! I fancy, in a few days, he'll put me on board-wages. 

" You're going to a place called Hexham, I hear ?" said the vaga- 
bond to me. 

I nodded an affirmative. 

"And all, as I can make out, to look at some tattered church ? 
Wouldn't it be better for ye, you unfortunate ould man, to go to them 
where ye might make your sowl, than wastin' time and money on ruins 
only fit to harbour ghosts and jackdaws — glowering at half an acre of 
rubbish and broken masonry in one place — and breakin' yer shins over 
tombstones at another ?" 

" You infernal vagabond" — 

" Stop ! don't be after workin' yerself into a passion, but just listen 
like a respectable Christian, instead of a cantankerous Turk ; — Arrah ! 
keep yer hands off the tongs, will ye ? it's very undacent, at your time 
of life, to grip the fire-irons, when a man points out what a gommouge * 
ye are." 

Away went the hearth-brush, and down came the macaw. 

" 'Pon my sowl ! ye'll be in a strait-waistcoat if ye don't repint. 
Asy for a minute, till I tell ye what I want. Jist give up goin' to 
that battered barrack of an ould church ; for as you didn't fancy the other 
Mrs. Clancy, feaks, hav'nt I from the kitchen-maid her promise, upon 

* A singular instance of this fact, that hunger sets bodily pain at defiance, may be 
witnessed at the hotel at Dunbar. One of the largest and finest dogs in Scotland be- 
longs to the proprietor of the house, and Lion is as remarkable for gentle temper as 
for uncommon size and strength. Some years since, he was accidentally locked up in 
a salt-store ; remained without food or water fourteen days ; and, when at last rescued, 
life was all but extinct, and the poor animal had gnawed away a portion of his own 
tail! 

t Anglice, — ass, simpleton. 



234 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

book-oath, that she'll favour me wid her hand. A cleaner skinn'd girl 
isn't at this side of Ballinasloe ; and, mona mon diaoul! she has an eye 
ye could light a pipe at. Arrah ! maybe, to make every thing respect- 
able, you would give the bride away?" 

Bang went the tongs ! exit Mr. Clancy — the carriage came round, 
and I am oif for Hexham. Alas ! it will be a parting visit to a building 
of surpassing interest. 

Beautiful and numerous as the monastic buildings of the sair saint,* 
David I., were, they were more than rivalled by the Northumbrian 
primate, Wilfrid. Hexham was the first church in Britain built with 
aisles and chancel, and the fifth erected from stone. Wilfrid had 
already repaired York minster, and built a splendid church at Ripon ; 
but on Hexham both his munificence and genius were exhausted. 
Italy, France, and the Low Countries, supplied artists of acknowledged 
celebrity ; and the first glass used in England, was inti-oduced to the 
north in the primacy of Wilfrid. Hexham was justly considered among 
the wonders of the day ; and Lingard's description of what it was, is 
supported by its remains of former magnificence. 

Secret cells, and subterranean oratories, were laid with wondrous 
industry beneath ; walls, in three distinct stories, of immense height 
and length, and supported by well polished coltamns, were erected 
above. The capitals of the columns, the arch of the sanctuary, or the 
chancel, and the walls themselves, were decorated with historical, fan- 
ciful, and unknown figures, projecting from the stone, and with pictures 
of various colours, and of most ingenious device. The body of the 
church was every where surrounded with aisles and porches, which by 
incommunicable art were distinguished with walls and spires above and 
below. Various and most curious galleries, leading backwards and 
forwards, artfully communicated with every part of the building. In 
these spires and galleries, innumerable multitudes might stand around 
the body of the church, and yet remain unseen by those within. Ora- 
tories, as secret as they were beautiful, were with diligence and caution 
erected in these towers and porches ; and in them were fair and well- 
appointed altars, dedicated to the Virgin Mother, to St. Michael the 
Archangel, and to St. .John the Baptist, to the holy apostles, martyrs, 
confessors, and virgins, f 

It is strange to trace even the monastic vicissitudes of these troublous 
times. A prelate (Wilfrid), builder or superior of nine monasteries — 
served on gold — his attendants nobly born — his companions princely in 
rank ; " elegant in person, accomplished and affable in his demeanour, 
popular in manners, and, though extremely haughty and ambitious, 
eminent for charity and liberality " — this favoured man was hunted 
from kir^dom to kingdom (the heptarchy), and obliged to shelter with 
" the heathens of Sussex;" Mercia and Wessex having refused him 
shelter. 

Besides enormous revenues, Hexham possessed a privilege peculiar 

* David's son and successor, painfully observed, when he had succeeded to a wasted 
patrimony, that his father was " a bra' saint for the kirk, but a sair saint for the 
croon." 

t Lingard. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 235 

to papal times — namely, the valuable right of sanctuary. The space 
within which the criminal could claim shelter was marked by four 
crosses — and still the sites of three are perfectly ascertained ; but that 
which marked the southern boundary, has ceased to be remembered. 
If the offender — no matter what his crime might be — gained what was 
called the " freed-stool," any attempt to remove him from it was held 
to be a mortal sin ; and if he were seized within the boundary, those 
who infringed upon the sacred privilege, were subject to fine and 
excommunication ; the amount of the former being determined by an 
exact measurement, touching what the distance of the spot where the 
gentleman had been grabbed by his pursuers might have been from the 
" freed-stool ;" the tariff rising desperately, in proportion to proximity 
to the blessed resting place. 

Hexham had a curious ring of bells which were re-cast in 1742, in 
consequence of the largest, called the " Fray-bell," having been cracked 
in ringing at a wedding. This mass of metal weighed seventy hundred, 
and report says that the distance its clapper was heard at was amazing. 
The old churchmen were arch dogs in their way ; and they indulged 
in a sly hit at the fair sex, by naming the noisiest of a noisy brigade 
after the Blessed Virgin. Saint Andrew was the next in magnitude ; 
but he being a steady sober saint, was only employed at funerals. 
Three of the bells bore the date of 1404 ; but it was believed that the 
others were founded at a much earlier period. 

Four of the bells were dedicated to favourite saints, and the in- 
scriptions upon the whole of them have been tolerably preserved. 
The following are the quaint conceits, which the monks gave to the 
founders : — 

1. Ad primes, cantus p. visat nos 
Rex gloriosus. 

2. Et cantare faciei 

Nos vox 

3. Est nobis digna 
Katerine vox benigna. 

4. Omnibus in annis 

Est vox Deo orata Johannis ! 

5. Andrea mi care 
Johanni consociare ! 

6. Est mea vox orata 

Dum sum Maria vocata.* 

* An eccentric countryman, whom I met in my wanderings, accompanied me to 
view the ruins of Prudhoe and Bothal Castles, and afterwards, to Alnwick and Hexham. 
Seeing me pencil down the Latin inscription, which was on the bells, before they were 
re-cast, he favoured me and the world, with what may be termed " a free translation." 
Of the two first, to use his own parlance, he " could make neither head nor tail ;" but 
with the remainder of the peal he appears to have been eminently successfiil : — 

3. Kathleen astore, yon are my jewel ; 
A dacent saint, and never cruel. 

4. Come, honest Jack, strike up your song, 
And till doom crack, go ding, ding, dong. 

5. Andy, my trump, you'r cute and cawny ; 
So clear your throat, and follow Johnny. 

6. Mary's the name I always take ; 
I'll sing my best — and no mistake I 



236 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

The history of Hexham would be exactly the story of a life. In 
its varying fortunes, at times it enjoyed the sunshine, and at others 
underwent the storm. After Wilfrid's death, his successor, Acca 
(709), exceeded his predecessor in the see, in adding to the splendour 
of his church.* In 876, the Danes laid the place in ruins, razed the 
churches to the earth, and massacred the inhabitants, regardless as to 
sex or age. Hexham Levels was the scene of the final overthrow of 
the Lancasterians — and its forests concealed the fugitive queen and 
prince, when her husband fled from a lost field. The den where the 
bold and unfortunate Margaret was sheltered by the faithful outlaw, "is 
still termed the Queen's Cave. At Hexham, after the Reformation, 
the popish plot, designated by the conspirators " The Pilgrimage of 
Grace," was hatched ;f and on the 9th of March, 1761, the popular 
outbreak in opposition to the militia ballot occurred. In this, known 
as the " Hexham Riot," nearly four hundred of the populace were 
killed and wounded by the soldiery. The government, not satisfied 
with the loss inflicted on the rioters, placed the county under martial 
law, and hanged a ringleader at Morpeth. It was an act of useless 
severity ; but seventy years ago, hemp seemed the general panacea for 
all the ills the state was heir to. 

There are many ways of doing men to death, from boring to burk- 
ing ; the latter inflicting less pain upon the sufferer, and in every point 
the preferable one. I forget how Captain Sinbad managed to shake 
off his fat friend, the old gentleman of the sea ; but I remember that in 
some romantic story — and, as a maiden-aunt pronounced it, after not 
skipping a line from the title-page to the word " finis," a very immoral 
one, — a certain Don Raymond is mentioned, who, having imprudently 
entered into the holy estate with a spectre called the Bleeding Nun, is 
liberated e vinculo matrimonii, by the " Wandering Jew." Of that 
vagabond race there are still wanderers enough ; but where is the 
old clothesman to be encountered, who shall deliver me from Peter 
Clancy ? I have pelted him from the presence, and there he is 
sitting on my luggage in the lobby, caroling the Crniis Keeine lawn, 
like a nightingale. 

The door opened, and a red head protruded itself cautiously through 
an opening, not an inch wider than served to admit it. 

" Now jist listen patiently," observed Mr. Clancy, " no use puttin' 
yerself in a passion. Peaks ! my marriage is teetotally off, and here 
I am free and indepindint to wait upon ye. She told me — the devil — 
that she had thirty pound in the saving bank. Well, — though I didn't 
misdoubt her word, I went and made inquiry. Arrah ! the devil as 

* " The interior he gilded with silver and gold, collected precious relics, orna- 
mented the altars with rich coverings, presented valuable communion plate and candle- 
sticks to illuminate the whole glorious dome." — History of Hexham. 

t The first outbreak of these crazy fanatics was treated with more leniency than 
might have been expected at the time ; and a free pardon was given upon the deluded 
men abandoning their mad scheme and quietly disbanding. Next year the insurrec- 
tion broke out anew, and then the vengeance of the executive fell heavily on the 
leaders. Aske, Lumley, Percy, and Bulmer were executed ; Lady Bulmer burned in 
Smithficld ; while the prior of Hexham found no security in his own sanctuary — for 
he was dragged from the monastery, and hanged over his own gate. 



HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 237 

much had she there, as would have paid turnpike for a walJiing-stick ! 
'Pom my sowl ! when I begin to think of it, I fancy that the world's 
gettin' worse and worse. Hasn't yer honour a suspicion of the same ? 
But now that ye are made sinsible that I am without encumbrance, I 
suppose I may venture in." 

And he slipped gingerly through the doorway, leaving the entrance 
ajar, nevertheless, for rapid retreat, should that prove desirable. 

I neither seized poker nor hearth-brush, but I calmly inquired 
"which should be hanged for the murder of the other?" 

" Hanged ! The Lord stand between us and evil ! No, no — here I 
am at your honour's total disposal, — ay, to watch over ye tinderer than 
a bad step-mother does over a rickety child — and, glory to the Virgin ! 
the devil a woman, good or bad, to lay their hand upon myself, and 
say, ' Peter Clancy, I have a claim upon ye.' " 

The words had scarcely issued from the speaker's lips, when a 
hand and arm that seemed to be a blacksmith's masquerading in female 
sleeve, was placed heavily on his shoulder. 

" Who's that ?" exclaimed Mr. Clancy, with a start, that betrayed 
intuitive terror. " Monasindiaoul ! I am caught at last, and ruined 
for ever. Biddy Morraghan's bunch of fives is not to be mistaken by a 
boy that could swear to it in a thousand." 

Heavens ! did I hear aright ? Had my hour of deliverance at last 
arrived ; and had Redhead fallen into the hands of the female Philistine 
who only could achieve it ? 

" Step in, Miss Morraghan !" I exclaimed, " arn't you kindly- 
welcome ? Make yourself quite at home, and take an air of the fire." 

No second invitation was required, and m glided this Irish Ariadne, 
who had, through the perfidy of villanous man, been left lamenting. 

I had seen Mr. Clancy's courage tested, and I believe, sincerely, 
there was not a keelman in Newcastle, to whom he might have objected 
to give a stone ; but now, compared with him, a whipped school-boy 
would have looked courageous. 

Upon my soul, I did not wonder at it, for Miss Morraghan, was no 
common-place customer. She stood five feet ten, and her height was 
not disproportioned to her physique. She was, indeed, " a whapper." 
Were she a game woman, not one man in ten would have a chance 
with her ; and not one in a hundred would venture to abide the tHal. 
And yet, this extended scale considered, as an animal she was not 
amiss ; although exuberant, she was shapely. She had teeth white as 
ivory itself, and hair as black as Erebus. 

"Peter Clancy," observed the lady, " have ye any thing to say for 

yourself, good or bad ? Plase yer reverence," and she turned to me, 

' " if I could but explain to ye all I have undergone through the desate 

" That accomplished malefactor !" I replied. 

" Holy Saint Bridget ! The very word the priest said whin he was 
cursing him from the altar !" exclaimed the too confiding fair one. 

" And you, my poor tender friend, have, no doubt, suffered from his 
perfidy ?" 

" Peaks ! plase yer reverence, I don't exactly understand the manin 



238 HILL-SIDE AND BORDER SKETCHES. 

of the word ; but hav'nt I been after him— the etarnal thief !— for the 
last six months — and considerin' my delicat situation." 

" Yes, madam ; from matronly appearances, the sooner the 
hymeneal knot were tied the better." 

" Arrah ! af yer honour only knew what I went through. Here I 
have been regular on the batter, over the wide world, since this villain 
cut his stick. One while, I would hear he was in Lunnun — the next, 
that he was at the lack-o-God's speed — Lord knows where. One tould 
me he had listed — another that he was on the treadmill ; and a third, 
that he was in the hulks. Sorra three jails in England that I didn't 
ransack, and examined every red-headed ruffian in the Penitentiary. 
At last, my heart was fairly broken, when, half an hour ago, I gets a 
glimpse of the wagabone, discoursin tenderly wid a young woman 
round the corner. ' That's him,' says I, ' by the powers ! I would 
know his skin upon a bush !' And feaks ! I wasn't far astray. I 
watch'd him fair and asy, and, as yer reverence sees, jist popp'd upon 
him like a soot-drop !" 

" Biddy," said the culprit, " let all be honour bright betune us." 
Here Mr. Clancy lifted the last month's army list, and kissed it most 
devoutly. " Be this book, before little Lady-day — and that's next 
Friday — I'll make ye an honest woman." 

" And be this book," and Miss Morraghan, in return, smacked the 
Times newspaper — " af there's Christian clargy to be found in this 
hathenisn land, I'll be yer lawful wife within an hour." 

" Right, madam," I exclaimed, " accept my blessings — with this five 
pound note to defray matrirr. nifl fees, and the festivities of the 
honeymoon." 

I was taking mine ease between the binnacle and the break of the 
quarter-deck, waiting, till "the Leeds" would cast off from the wharf. 
The bell had sounded twice. The captain was on the bridge, with his 
hands in his nether pockets ; and the attending imp looking from the 
hatch of the engine-room, and waiting anxiously for a waving of the 
hand. The third time the signal struck. The last loiterer hurried 
along the gang-board, and the wheels made an evolution. I took a 
parting glance at the pier — and there stood Mr. and Mrs. Clancy. The 
latter, in glorious triumph, touched her fourth finger, and pointed to the 
mystic ring, while Peter halloed audibly : ' If it's a boy, we'll call 
him after yer honour." 



THE END. 



1^071 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2009 

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